Level Horizon
by nyxysabyss
Summary: In a perfect world, everything works out. His leveler would still have his wings. They wouldn't be separated from their families, entire lives abandoned. They'd never fight, never wonder over what they've lost, never fear the future. But Kageyama knows better than anyone that the world isn't perfect. He's also learned to smile in spite of that. Post 'Level Pair' (*not)drabbles 0.o
1. Year One 1-8 Povidence

A/N: It is December 24th and Nyx is a whole year older, and like three months later than when I wanted to start posting. I have finally hit my 80% roughed out point and honestly... Leveler Drabbles is less of a 'story' in the typical sense and more of a collection of somewhat individual events that are related and set to a meandering background plot line riddled with time lapses, so I'm not sure it will be anywhere near the caliber of Level Pair. And yeah... drabbles are typically around 100 words... and exactly zero of my chapters are anywhere near that. I dont think any of them are even close to 1000 words... and I'm sure at least one is probably something like 10000.

If you haven't read Level Pair, I highly recommend so that you will be more up to speed on everything that is happening and not blindsided by occasional mentions of past events. My sincerest apologies for the LONG wait all you wonderful people, I hope what follows makes up for it.

 **LEVELER DRABBLES; YEAR ONE 1/8 (Providence)**

When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky. ~Gautama Buddha

 **Koutarou Bokuto** steps out onto the porch, stretching his shoulder with a whisper of annoyance, but an easy grin on his face. The way the angled sunlight stretches over the waves in the east combined with the glistening dew still lingering on the beach grass makes his chest swell with anticipation; it is a beautiful morning.

Koutarou loves the way the sun burnishes bronze across his skin in the summers with soft warmth, and he loves the light caress of a breeze over his face. He loves the smell of rain and even the feel of crisp air hitting his lungs in the winter. Koutarou loves the way tired muscles breathe a sigh of relief after a long day, and he loves the slow awareness that overtakes him every morning when he opens his eyes to a new one. He loves a good meal surrounded by people he knows well, and he loves the rush of blood in his veins when his heart does that half skip right before he leaps to swing at a ball. He loves the thrill of a good hit, and he loves the feeling of connection and unity he has with everyone.

Koutarou doesn't know if he's ever been happier to be alive.

More than once, he's tried to pinpoint what exactly he'd done that the universe has swung so much in his favor that he's found himself _here_. He lives on the beach with Akaashi and the most interesting group of people, and spends his days playing Volley and eating great food surrounded by friends that are more aptly called family than anyone he's related to by blood. He and Akaashi had been part of an owl parl, but it had never felt anything like this.

Koutarou knows where his mother and father are, could find them if he needed them for something, but owls rarely kept in contact with family once they flew the nest. They occasionally congregated in parls if the solitary life was unappealing, but they differed from many other avian groups in that since owls were generally stag by their very nature, when they did team up, groups were often very small and might range from a handful of individuals to perhaps a couple dozen.

But where leaving a large flocking avian group like the Karasuno sentry ranks would often be akin to desertion and treason, an owl parl was more impersonal and individuals could join or leave at will. The catch was that in a parl, you followed the rules to the letter. And one universal rule was emotional distance.

Since owls didn't migrate like many other avians, they bore the brunt of hard winters head on, and in this competitive world when their environment reached for the depths of its harsh limits, compassion could kill you. Emotional distance meant establishing hunting territories and ensuring they were maintained. It meant that avoiding starvation required not forfeiting game to another. It meant survival without the intrusion of empathy for the plight of someone else.

And one way this was often cultivated in parls was by periodic 'hunts' where smaller avians and sometimes even cats were often targeted. Koutarou had been brought along on hunts meant to harden that detachment and reinforce his resolve to survive in the face of anything— even a begging innocent doomed to die. If one could set aside personal reservation and take the life of another, no matter the circumstance, they could survive. Hunts were few and far between, but they were the reason all the same for owls' notorious reputation with various species far and wide.

Koutarou had been fortunate. He'd never been the one striking the killing blow on those brutal pursuits, but he'd found that just being that close to it had both numbed him to the stark reality of death and at the same time, galvanized his desire to never be forced into that type of situation.

The hunts had failed to serve their underlying purpose for Koutarou. On more than one occasion, he'd split a half-starved kill with another despite the dire need for it himself, unable to condemn another to death so that he might live— something that would have gotten him exiled from the parl had anyone found out. Compassion was weakness and a weak member was a vulnerability and a burden.

He'd struggled to come to terms with proper 'owl' mentality for centuries. They were solitary by nature; removing themselves from the plight of others was supposed to be easy. But Koutarou had never been able to view another individual as 'just a life' with complete indifference. He'd legitimately wondered if there was something wrong with him that he failed so spectacularly to do that.

But then Akaashi had shown up in their parl three or four decades ago. The other owl was a slightly smaller subspecies, far more reserved, yet painfully frank on occasion. And he'd hated the hunts just like Koutarou.

The streaked owl had been under scrutiny for several years himself by the time Akaashi had shown up, and when he'd displayed the same tendency to withdraw and go through the motions on hunts that Koutarou did, the parl had reacted and issued an ultimatum. They'd paired him up with Akaashi under the guise of an initiation for the other owl, and told them not to return without a pair of avian wings.

Koutarou had been nearly sick at the prospect. It was one thing to take and kill an animal for sustenance, but to kill simply to take a life and buffer that mental detachment had twisted his gut every time. An avian could survive without their wings, but a grounded avian was often likened to a bird having lost its heart or soul; it was widely considered kinder to kill a grounded avian than leave them to linger in their crippled state, even by owl standards.

At first, he'd desperately hoped that Akaashi was merely uninterested in the hunts, but entirely capable of taking out an innocent. He hadn't said anything to the other owl beyond the bare minimum of what was required as they selected a target, pursued, and cornered it. He'd sincerely wished Akaashi would make a move before he could stop and question Koutarou's hesitance. Once the little female starling they'd honed in on was dead, Koutarou knew he'd have had less issue following through with the task; he'd waver up until that point because she was still saveable. Once all life left her body, there would be no further chance to back out… but he'd frantically hoped he wouldn't have to be the one to take it from her.

Looking back, he honestly doesn't know if he could have.

They'd been closing in on her, her dark eyes darting around wildly with terror, her pretty speckled wings fluttering with agitation, and Koutarou had been furiously trying to quiet his roiling gut when Akaashi had stopped flat with a dark look on his face.

"Fuck this." He'd muttered and turned on a heel and leapt back into the sky. Koutarou had stood there for several moments before scrambling after him, leaving the starling to escape and quiet her impending panic attack on her own.

"Oi. What are you doing?" He'd asked and Akaashi had flashed him a fierce glare.

"Leaving. Get lost, you streaked pigeon."

Koutarou had blinked at him before a scowl crossed his face.

"You prick, I'm older than you. Show at least a _little_ respect." He'd grouched. Akaashi had turned away from him.

"Don't care. Scram."

Koutarou's brow had furrowed with annoyance but he'd opted to forgo a juvenile volley of insults.

"Hey. We can't go back without a pair of wings, you know." He'd said instead.

"You mean you can't. I'm not going to kill some poor sap because they want 'proof' of my ability to 'survive'. I'm entirely capable without having to demonstrate my worth. I've been on my own for several centuries; I can do it again just fine." He'd growled. The streaked owl had blinked at him once more.

"You mean… you aren't gonna go back? Because you didn't want to kill her?" He'd asked, his chest feeling compressed. He'd never dreamed that someone else might struggle with this, too.

"For no real reason? No. That's demented." He'd murmured as if Koutaro's question were the stupidest of the year. Koutarou had nearly stalled out in midair in a bewildering combination of shock and elation.

 _There had been someone else like him._ He'd had to push his wings to catch up.

"Eh— where are you going?"

"Away from here. Didn't I tell you to shove off? Why are you following me?" The other owl had asked with irritation. Koutarou had simply grinned.

"I'll come with you."

"What? No, you aren't. 'On my own' doesn't lend itself to company." Akaashi had said with annoyance, but Koutarou was undeterred.

"I'll lend you mine." He'd said only to earn a flat look from the other owl.

It had been the start of an amusingly antagonistic relationship that had grown into so much more. They'd drifted along across the landscape together, the years only strengthening their friendship until they were nearly inseparable by the time they'd stumbled upon Hinata, Kenma, and the beach crew.

Koutarou doesn't think he will ever regret the choice to join the other owl or that chance meeting.

Koutarou loves living, but he also loves _life_. He loves the turn of seasons and everything they bring. He loves seeing plants burgeon green and flowering in spring to bear fruit in summer and burn golden red in fall. He even treasures the peaceful silence often brought in the depths of winter. He loves seeing the vast array of wildlife and people that surround them, each with their own glorious uniqueness. He marvels at the stealth of a cat like Kuroo or Kenma or the cunning of a fox, and he admires the agile adeptness of the smaller avian races like Yachi and even the crows.

It doesn't matter that cats and foxes can't fly or that buntings and crows will never have physical power to rival his own. Everything has its own strengths and weaknesses, and they are all _stunning_. There is so much beauty in the world around him, and to destroy any of it needlessly seems like such a waste. That sentiment was something the other owl shared.

Akaashi had stalwartly refused to fly to any other rhythm except his own, and it had given Koutarou the inspiration to carve his own future, no matter how far he deviated from accepted 'owl' norm. When Koutarou thinks about points in his life, they are always in reference to 'before meeting Akaashi' and 'after meeting Akaashi', because the two realities are so far apart, he can barely believe they are both part of his life. For Koutarou, he feels like his outlook has done nothing but brighten since he'd met the other owl and if he has his way, Akaashi will never escape him.

The streaked owl flinches, his thoughts broken as he pulls his arm across himself to stretch that shoulder a little further. They've been doing the same thing pretty much day in and day out for the last year, so he has no idea why he _still_ gets random sore muscles sometimes.

It's been a year last month since he and Akaashi landed a permanent residence with the beach crew, and the one constant since then has been Volley. They'd played in the wind where every hit had been a gamble. They'd played in light rain that made the sand stick to the ball only to jostle off into their faces with every touch— the setters had hated those days and Kenma had flatly refused to play at all. Koutarou's pretty sure that he and a couple others wouldn't have cared about the encroaching cold as winter set in, but Kuroo had put the kibosh on that as soon as the temperature dropped to where it was dangerous to sweat during outdoor play… which had led to a mad quest for another place to play until spring.

It was Daichi who'd returned home a week later with the solution. A local agricultural farm owned by a man named Takeda offered up a hay barn for their game and even though it was smaller than their sand pitch, they'd jumped at it. It was out of the cold and Ittetsu Takeda was wonderfully amenable and Kuroo had been satisfied, so they could generally be found there if they weren't doing other things as the world had frosted over.

But real life did intrude just a bit… as food and amenities grew more scarce, they'd been forced to resort to other means to get by. Suga's relatives in town had migrated once again, and the crew had managed the shop which helped significantly, but things had still been tight sometimes.

Koutarou and Akaashi ended up working on the docks to help keep everything upright— although it was more that Koutarou couldn't stand the shop, and Akaashi had joined him because 'someone had to keep an eye on him'. There was nothing wrong with it specifically, Koutarou just couldn't stand being inside all the time, winter weather be damned.

He and Akaashi had continued to work off and on at the docks even after spring returned because he liked the bustle and activity. Perhaps _that_ 's why he's sore now; he and Akaashi _did_ unload a big cargo ship yesterday, and the other owl had begged off this morning in favor of sleeping till noon.

He leans on the railing, rubbing the stiff muscles and eyeing the teams playing down the beach at the net.

Kenma is setting for Tsukishima, Asahi, and Daichi while Noya runs back row for them, the libero chattering at the former sentry leader about going somewhere; it doesn't surprise the streaked owl that the golden cat is up this early. Kenma dislikes being active in the high heat of the day so it makes sense that he's playing now. On the net's other side, Kageyama sets for Tanaka and Hinata with Suga on back line. Really, everyone has come into their own playing Ground Volley, each person developing their own strengths.

The sullen ibis had seemed to find some twisted inspiration when the rest of the Karasuno group had shown up. Koutarou hypothesizes that the way Kageyama suddenly had a full team that instantly rallied around him with such a refined respect for his capabilities after Tsukishima had done nothing but harass him all summer long had lit a proverbial fire under the blond. Either way, Tsukishima has become a monster of a blocker who reads hits well and times his responses almost perfectly, taking particular pleasure whenever he blocks a hit that comes off one of Kageyama's tosses.

Asahi has a scary powerful spike and both he and Yamaguchi can nail dynamite serves; Koutarou has chased more than one ball into the surf after he'd botched the receive. Daichi is steady, fairly well rounded and excellent support in any situation. He can hit a solid line drive spike and is one of the better individuals for receiving as well.

Though as far as that goes, the little crow, Noya, is a beast in the back row. He'd taken to not using his wings in a matter of days, the first of the Karasuno group to go without ropes. He's a godsend for whichever side has him and scrimmage matches often have to be carefully stacked to even out the imbalance the smallest crow can create almost by himself.

Then there's Kuroo and Kenma, who've played ground volley longer than any of them and know the game inside and out. Either one of them is a powerful asset in their own right and as Koutarou eyes the way the teams have set up, he almost wants to call them out for loading their side. They have Kenma setting, the defensive safety of Noya aided by the versatile Daichi, the strike power of Asahi, and the powerhouse blocking capabilities of Tsukishima all on one side.

He _would_ say something… except the other side has Kageyama and Hinata.

The two rarely play on opposite sides and are so fluent together that they are nearly always a viable threat. Hinata's enthusiasm and speed paired with Kageyama's accuracy makes them a dangerously hard combination to track and counter. The pair alone is probably the single biggest offset to Noya's uncanny receiving ability. They are backed by Suga who is also well rounded like Daichi, but with the added capability of setting to free up Kageyama to hit once in a while. The thrush is calm and stable in games, a level head even in a tight spot.

But if he's the epitome of easygoing control, Tanaka is the very definition of uninhibited.

Brash and often feral, his athletic capability is one for the books… but that talent is tempered by inexperience and lack of refinement. Koutarou had butted heads with the bald crow a bit at first and Tanaka had taken the longest by far of any of them to achieve playing without wings— he'd still been in ropes _months_ after he'd arrived. His wild attacks are never the same despite their frightening power. It was like Asahi, but with a fraction of the precision.

Koutarou smirks just a bit. Tanaka could be abrasive and bluntly critical of new people, but his heart was golden. There are several tendencies in the bald crow that make Koutarou think that given another century to mellow out, he'll eventually be a lot like Kuroo.

The door opens behind him and Lev stumbles out beside him looking only half awake. The tall cat was more like Kenma and prone to be up early; Akaashi being the exception this morning, Kuroo is usually the last one up, his manic bedhead absolutely hilarious. Koutarou's smirk turns to a grin as he nods to the yawning set of ears beside him before heading down to the sand pitch to join in.

 _Speaking of juvenile experience_ …

The grey cat is perhaps the only one who can consistently out jump Tsukishima, but he's pretty much a 'glass cannon' in the streaked owl's humble opinion. He can dominate at the net, but where he and the Karasuno unit had had their previous Volley experience to transfer to the ground game, Lev has only been playing for the last year and his back line ability is pitiful at best.

Koutarou rolls his shoulder once more and weighs the strengths on both sides of the net before shrugging and heading for the younger level pair's end on a whim.

A flash of white tipped wing as Kageyama spins to follow the receive makes him smirk. The odd white edging on the last few flight feathers on each of the setter's wings had appeared with his molt last fall and had quickly become a razzing point for the crow prince among their beach abode, but Bokuto had enthusiastically congratulated him as another bi-colored avian. He had silver streaked hair, and white tipped wings weren't that different, right?

He claps once at Kageyama and the ibis across the net scoffs at the rude bid for a toss, but the crow setter's next one comes his way without a hitch in game play. He lines up and hits and not for the first time, he feels the hairs on his arms rise at how perfectly the ball sails to the exact spot he'll swing through. Tsukishima calls it 'creepy', and Koutarou kind of has to agree, but that's not to say he doesn't enjoy getting to hit them— each one of Kageyama's tosses is a trip.

On some level, he envies the small redhead, but could never be sullen with the little spiker.

There is a place in his heart carved out in a perfect 'Hinata' shape; without that little redhead, he's not so sure he and Akaashi would ever have found and come to call this place 'home'. Where the others had all reacted in typical fashion to a pair of owls showing up, Hinata had seen an opportunity. He'd seen Bokuto's rife fascination not as aggression, but as the rabid single minded curiosity that it was.

Koutarou had felt the small spiker's quiet admiration within a few hours of meeting the beach crew, had been gratified when it had given way to full blown verbal diarrhea and ecstatic compliments that made the streaked owl's gut warm in happy content, the first of many, many instances since. It wasn't lost on him that this bright little mass of enthusiasm had seen hardship the likes of which he'd been ordered to dish out to a certain starling in the past; he'd been all the more glad that he hadn't been able to follow through.

And the more he'd gotten to know the small redhead, the more privileged he felt to have met him, and by extension, all of the others. The kid was stupidly optimistic, ever sunny and upbeat, yet attentive to those around him. He was such a vibrating ball of energy, he and Bokuto could quite literally feed off of each other in almost any instance— even if they were on opposite sides of a Volley net. Honestly, the kid's enthusiasm had been enough to make it easy to shrug off the initial reception they'd encountered in Sheru Bay itself, it could boost Bokuto's mood that much.

Hinata could get so excited over the smallest things… like the day a few weeks back when he'd brought home a shirt from the docks, fresh off one of the merchant ships. He'd showed it to the small spiker who'd snatched it and nearly fallen over himself in his mad dash to show the crow setter.

"Kageyama! Kagayama, look!" He'd babbled in his typical loud exuberance, holding the garment out. Feathers had looked up from where he was stretching on the porch with an eyebrow cocked in wary focus.

"What are you freaking out about now?" He'd asked, his brow furrowing with a mild scowl. The redhead had held the top up in front of him for emphasis, his eyes snapping with fire and his avidity not diminished in the least.

"It's a _shirt_!"

The crow setter had blinked at it before finding the redhead's gaze with a flat look.

"I can see that. What's with the low front?" He'd murmured and Koutarou had gotten the keen sense that he'd asked about the style simply to humor the bouncing little spiker, not because he was actually interested. Hinata was wholly undeterred.

"That's not the front, Kageyama." He'd said with a grin.

It had taken the crow setter a few seconds to process that and then his brows had risen with surprise, his attention piqued. And as Hinata had turned the shirt to better show it to the other boy, Koutarou had seen it dawn on Kageyama.

"The low back allows freedom of movement for wings and a _lot_ less hassle getting it on and off. No more slits to mess around with, and there won't be any awkward fit or rubbing against the wing base. Kageyama, this is a shirt specifically designed for _avians_!" Hinata'd chattered happily. The setter had looked at it with new focus, the redhead's elation infectiously lighting his face with quiet intrigue. The shirts had been such a hit with every avian, that Koutarou had had to bring home a crate of them.

It was just one more example of how much he and Akaashi had integrated into the menagerie of individuals that live at the beach house.

When the beach crew had seamlessly allowed the owls in on their most closely guarded secret last summer— the redhead and crow setter being a level pair, Koutarou had felt a surreal sense of awe and belonging that he'd never experienced before at the trust they'd placed in _them_ , a pair of _owls_. The cats and avians had continued to welcome them from that point, fully sharing everything without reservation, and with each new little detail like a gift that demonstrated the solidarity that was extended for them, Koutarou had felt his entire being swell with joy.

It was something else the streaked owl had instantly loved, and almost overnight, that camaraderie and confidence had become something he knew he would never betray.

Koutarou blinks as the redhead materializes beside him at the net, his hand already swinging to meet the incoming ball. As it snaps past Tsukishima, Koutarou has to smile. The dynamic level pair is on their game today. They bicker frequently, and even argue now and then— particularly when Hinata wants to go into Sheru Bay and Feathers is made to stay back, but Koutarou wonders if he and Akaashi could ever achieve their level of subconscious connection.

A small smile tips his mouth; the streaked owl is content regardless and it is enough that he gets to be a part of all this.

They go through the ritualistic motions just as they breath: receive, toss, hit, cover, block, repeat. It's so familiar that Koutarou doubts they even have to think about it. Tsukishima spikes a toss that ricochets off Suga's arms, and before the thrush has a chance to head after it, the redhead is buzzing by him to retrieve it.

"So how 'bout it, Daichi? It's been a year, they called off the searches for Kageyama and Hinata last summer; I doubt they'd hold them out much more for us." Noya says, still pushing whatever angle he'd been on about earlier.

"In order to even have a chance of getting into the rookery, you'd have to do it at night." Daichi sounds weary of the conversation despite the small smile he wears.

"Sounds good to me." Noya grins and the larger crow's smile tweaks, his gaze pinching at the corners of his eyes. Koutarou's been around them all long enough to know when the former sentry leader is getting irritated.

"That would require you getting past any garrisoned units. You have any idea what might happen if you get caught?" He rumbles lightly, but the streaked owl can hear the weight under it, the warning not to push.

"Noya, Daichi's right, it'd probably be dangerous." Asahi tries, but the shortest crow ignores him and stares right back at Daichi with brazen focus, a challenge.

"Don't you remember what it was like when we didn't know what happened to _them_?" He asks, jerking a thumb toward Kageyama and Hinata as he returns with the ball. "It sucked… and it might be nice to at least put them at ease."

"Noya—"

"You think they will be at ease if you are being interrogated?" Daichi asks fiercely, his smile brittle as he cuts across the redhead, and Koutarou wonders distractedly what kind of place they came from where _interrogated_ sounded akin to a death sentence.

"We _won't_ be caught. We got this in the bag. We have _Kuroo_ , remember?" The short crow says confidently, refusing to back down.

"You'd put _all_ of us in danger, Nishinoya. No." Daichi says, his smile slipping away and the streaked owl is struck with the uncomfortable desire to be just about anywhere else. Daichi seriously angry _is_ a frightening and uncommon sight.

"What if Yamaguchi and I went?"

Everyone turns to stare at the blond by the net who watches them all as if their squabbles bore him.

"Sorry?" Daichi asks with a frown.

"You want your friends and family or whatever to know you are alright, correct? Since you guys are blacklisted from the rookery and Yamaguchi and I are no one, we could go."

There's a long moment of silence that stretches around them before Kageyama breaks it with a scowl.

"Why would you do something like that for us?" He asks suspiciously and the ibis turns to him with a brow cocked.

"Aww, it's cute that you think it's for you. Actually, Yamaguchi wanted to see it. We were headed there before we ran into you guys and ended up on _this_ neurotic detour. We've still been talking about going sometime; it simply seemed logical to offer."

"You arrogant—" Kageyama's insult is slaughtered in it's infancy by Suga's instant iron grip on his shoulder, the thrush's fingers sinking into his trap muscle with white knuckles.

"It is a generous offer and you are most kind to consider our situation. What do you think Daichi?" The grey haired setter asks lightly, his easy expression and relaxed tone at odds with the definition in the arm that still gags Kageyama with a thumb against a pressure point.

The former sentry leader turns toward the small crow.

"Will that satisfy you?" He asks wearily, seeking approval from the libero. Noya turns toward the blond with a skeptical look.

"...I guess. Rather go myself, but whatever. I'll agree, but you have to come back and tell us how they are. If you won't do that then I'm not playing on your side anymore." The ibis raises a brow, unimpressed.

"We'll consider it."

Koutarou smirks at Noya's excellent success in getting the ibis to bend. If a certain crow were to find out about the blond's half-promise to return, the streaked owl is positve they will be back. He'll have to make a point to mention this exchange to Yamaguchi.

He grins as the game starts up again with a few half-assed quips back and forth between the shortest and tallest two people on the sand court. He loves the banter and the companionship and the eagerness he wakes with in the morning— he really does love life. If he could, he'd make this the norm for the rest of his.

He'll have to rack his brain and figure out how the universe keeps a tally on karma, because when the world decides he's overdue for a 'royally fucked' moment, it would be nice to know how to get back here.

A/N: Okay. I'll be honest… i initially set a monumentally unrealistic goal of posting sequel chapters a couple weeks after I finished Level Pair because I thought they would be as easy as the rest of it. Please allow me to grovel out an apology for that bit of nonsense and the extra LONG wait. Nyx is an idiot.

Cue my inevitable idiotic writer optimism coming back to bite me. I didn't really have much of a story line or clear cut scenes to go for a sequel and it sorta started out as just little oneshots which i thought would be much easier to hash out… except they weren't. I was turning out 2-3 chaps a day on level pair when i roughed it out and it's been taking me like 2-3 days per chap on the drabbles (hah, again, not even remotely drabbles). And I'd assumed it wouldn't really be much more than like 10 chapters, but hey, i got *INSPIRATION* at the two week mark when I'd initially wanted to start posting.

Oh, and it's embarrassing and I'm still salty with myself, but I committed a capital writer error. Like lethal writer error. Like all writers should shame me because I've been writing for a decade and should know this by now.

In order to keep myself from working on it at work, I was writing on a document on my laptop. Logical way to not get fired, right? Well, document froze and i was like 'oh, not an issue, autosave is my friend'. Except 'Autosave' jumped ship like four chapters back and I didn't know it. I placed faith in a word program to autosave my shit and lost a week's worth of work. Which, for anyone curious, is a total motivation killer. But no worries… I rewrote them and they are *cough* 'mostly' the same, I just lost another week. So yeah, I'm pretty sure there's supposed to be a lesson here…

Anyway, at the rate it's going, it might rival Level Pair in length. Thank you certain small redheaded character(s), you have buried me in this freaking fandom. I think I'm sitting at 25 chapters, possibly more and most of them are roughed out, but no promises my daily updates will always be daily (I'm so sorry, but this REALLY didn't wright as cleanly as Level Pair and I'm far less confident in it, so I imagine everything will have like 5 rewrites which is time consuming).

I look forward to posting for you all again and I hope I can make it as interesting as the last set. Hope your holiday season is going spectacular so far; have an awesome night you guys.


	2. Year One 2-8 Promnesia

**YEAR ONE 2/8 Promnesia**

Déjà vu is the mind's way of letting you know you are in the right place at the right time. ~Unknown

 **Kei Tsukishima** lands in the rookery tree market, Yamaguchi shadowing him like a pup on leash. To be frank, he's impressed on some level at the design of the place what with the boardwalks stretching between the shops several feet above the ground, but he can already tell this is going to be a trip to remember— and perhaps not with the fondest capacity.

 _Yep_. _We are totally going to succeed at staying invisible,_ he mentally grouses with wry cynicism.

There are more crows around him than he's ever wanted to see, and almost everyone stares at his pale wings. Adults glance away in embarrassment when he meets their gazes, conscious of having been caught, the shopkeepers taking extra note of his presence.

And there are _kids_. All of which don't even bother to hide their fascination. This can't get much better, he muses with a frown as one wanders up in front of them with blatant curiosity. She can't be more than four hundred years old with solid black eyes, and Kei has the irrational certainty that children are, indeed, spawn from hell. Shaking his head at the moronic thought, he eyes her distastefully, careful not to scowl if he can help it; Yamaguchi said he could make kids cry if he looked at them wrong and that's the _last_ thing they need.

But she's completely alone.

Seriously, she looks like an orphan. Where were her parents? What person lets their little blood minion just wander around unsupervised like this? And she keeps staring at him with bright inquisition that reminds him eerily of Hinata. What was he supposed to _do_ with her? What did _anyone_ do with a little spawn monster?

But no sooner is he considering casting about for a guardian of some type, then Yamaguchi has it under control. If under control means the crow bending down to her level and beckoning her _closer_. She shyly moves up to the freckled crow, her gaze straying up to him every other step.

"Hi kiddo, what's your name?" Yamaguchi asks with an easy smile and the little girl focuses on him more squarely.

"Mei." She says softly and his face brightens.

"Aw, that's adorable— just like you! Want to know something neat? His name is _Kei_. They rhyme!" He bubbles animatedly and the ibis almost coughs.

What the heck was Yamaguchi up to now? The little girl smiles and turns and points at his wings. She turns back to the crow with a happy grin.

"Pretty!" She blurts and Kei's brow arches.

 _Really, now, they weren't—_

"They are, aren't they? The feathers on their undersides are super soft." Yamaguchi says with a laugh and holds his arms out to the small child and Kei deadpans.

 _What the hell, Yamaguchi. And don't pick that kid up. You don't know where it's been,_ he wants to grouse but the little girl is already reaching for the crow who scoops her up and settles her on his hip. Kei abruptly wants to bang his head against a wall.

 _Oh, yes. Great idea._

He's pretty sure they look like they are abducting a small child right now. Yes, kidnapping was a stellar way to keep a low profile.

Yamaguchi leans in toward her, but glances at him.

"Do you think he might let us touch one if we ask him nicely?" The crow whispers conspiratorially and her black eyes dart toward him. Kei resists the urge to jolt at her excited little wiggle and settles for a frown at Yamaguchi.

 _No_. He's not a side show.

"Please may I touch, Kei?" Her voice draws his attention and he looks back into small black eyes that shine with a hopeful brightness. He flashes Yamaguchi a dark look.

 _Absolutely not._

He's most definitely a no-touchy person, and Yamaguchi knows this. The other crow watches him with nothing but reproach despite the smile he wears when he leans in toward the child once more.

"Aww, he's pretty cranky today. That's what happens when you grow up to be pretty, you get to be cranky. So remember that for when you get to be all beautiful." He says with a salty grin and taps her nose lightly at her downcast expression. Kei suffocates a snort.

"Never had a kid, but I'm pretty sure that's _not_ something you're supposed to tell them." He mutters, but the little girl looks so crestfallen that he almost relents… almost. But Yamaguchi pins him with an accusatory look.

"See? Definitely cranky." He loudly whispers to her once more and Kei pulls a blank expression.

 _Yeah… forget it._

Quicker than Kei can react, Yamaguchi's arm snaps out and he feels a pinch.

"He's grouchy a lot, no matter how cute you are." He says and she looks back up at him. "But guess what!" He continues with a grin and holds the pale flight feather he just snagged from Kei's wing in front of her. "He sheds one of these every day and you were lucky enough to be here when he lost this one."

There's a chuckle from somewhere behind him, but the only thing Kei can manage is to stare at the crow holding the child secure in one arm and his feather in the other hand. Her eyes go wide in awe and she reaches for it but pauses and looks up at Yamaguchi as if seeking permission. His grin gets bigger and he nods. She carefully takes the pale feather, careful not to disturb the sleek lay of the vane fibers as she runs her little fingers down its length. She looks back up at the freckled crow with a happy smile.

"Can I have it?" She asks, her face full of brilliant hope and Kei's again reminded of a certain redhead. Yamaguchi brings a thumb to his lip and scrunches his brow in overexaggerated thought before looking back at her.

"Hmm, he won't need it anymore. He might let you keep it if you can help us with something?" Her face lights up like a lantern at a festival.

"Really? What can I do?" She asks, the prospect of securing his feather bringing out her enthusiasm in full force as she glances between them.

"We are looking for the Volley Point shop. Our ball went flat and a friend said that was the place to get a new one. Do you know where it's at?" Yamaguchi asks and she squeaks and nods quickly before scrambling out of his arms in a tangle of limbs and spastic little black wings.

Definitely like Hinata. Perhaps a little more polite, but there are so many parallels, it's creepy. And Kei has the presence of mind to realize that he's unwillingly contributed to this rampant mass of energy. He feels like he's just hit a new low point in his life.

She zips up into the air for a better vantage point, a cautious yet iron grasp on his feather, and beckons to Yamaguchi. The freckled crow follows her up and she exuberantly points and gestures to a spot a little way away, her little voice talking a league a minute.

"Okay, got it! Thank you! I guess that means that's yours now." Yamaguchi says, dropping back beside him, the little girl trailing after with a huge smile, his feather— her prize, still clutched in her hand.

"Mm!" She nods enthusiastically, but Kei can barely shift his gaze from the freckled crow as he tries to wrap his head around what just happened.

 _Yamaguchi just pulled one of his feathers. For a kid. To get directions._

That crow was, without a doubt, the slyest bastard Kei knew. A light touch against his hand draws his attention and he looks down into sparkling black eyes with misgiving.

"Thank you, Kei!" The little girl says before spinning and disappearing with his flight feather. Definitely better mannered than Hinata.

"I have a bearing Tsukki, let's go!" The freckled crow says, latching onto his arm and tugging him along after him. Kei frowns at his enthusiasm… did he contract something from that kid? He's not usually this rambunctious.

"Yamaguchi." He murmurs and the crow tosses a _chipper_ glance back at him that makes Kei's feathers prickle.

"What's up Tsukki?" He asks buoyantly and Kei consciously refrains from rolling his eyes.

"Don't do that again."

"What? Refuse to talk to kids? Glare at them? That would be awesome because then I'd be like you, Tsukki!" He says with a laugh and the ibis nearly coughs. It's obvious the crow is excited; the more he's enjoying himself, the more frequent his witty remarks surface.

"You know what I mean." He mutters darkly. Yamaguchi barely spares a glance for his admonishment.

"It was one feather." He says half petulantly.

"There are _hundreds_ of kids, Yamaguchi." He states blandly.

"That's why you only shed one feather a day!" He says offhandedly and Kei _does_ roll his eyes. The freckled crow is having a field day.

"Tadashi."

Yamaguchi glances back at him with an expression torn between put out and apologetic.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, Tsukki. You can pull one of mine next time." He murmurs before his attention is focused back ahead of them, the freckled crow pulling him forward once more.

 _Except Yamaguchi wasn't the one that drew eyes everywhere they went,_ Kei mentally grumbles and releases a light sigh of annoyance.

They round a corner in the elevated market, and he wants to curse. If there had been a lot of crows before, there are probably twice as many here. Kei feels assaulted by the sheer number of black wings. It could get crowded for him back at the beach house what with fifteen other people, but he's never felt overwhelmed by so many people that all had one thing in common he didn't share. He feels all the more visible among them when they were supposed to blend in.

"Wow, Tsuki, look! They have fish! And this far from the ocean!"

 _Speaking of blending in…_ One of his pale brows quirks. He knows Yamaguchi is smart— brilliant actually, but Kei would be hard pressed to recognize that at the moment.

"Rivers are a thing." He says pointedly, but the freckled crow isn't paying attention. He wants to huff in frustration.

 _Oh, yes. We are definitely lying low, Daichi._

That was what the crow had asked of them right before they'd left, wasn't it?

"We've set up a contact that will meet you at the Volley Point shop in the middle of the big market."

"You trust this person?" Kei had questioned critically and Daichi had smirked.

"With our lives. You'll stand out a bit, but Yamaguchi being with you should help. Try to be discreet." He'd said with a grin.

But as Kei watches his crow companion exclaim over each new shop or sight, he wants to facepalm. No one had banked on Yamaguchi's uninhibited elation, and if they stand out it's probably going to be more the crow's doing than his. The freckled boy is pretty much broadcasting that they aren't from the area.

"Wow, this place is incredible! Tsukki, have you ever seen so many crows?" He asks and Kei's eye twitches.

"Yamaguchi." His voice comes out quiet and rife with annoyance. The crow jolts before turning to face him uncertainly.

"What, Tsukki?"

"Do you know the meaning of inconspicuous?" He drawls at him and Yamaguchi blinks.

"Eh… low-key?" He asks as if he's double checked it in his head twice but is unsure if that's the answer Kei is actually looking for. The ibis' head tilts in a slight nod.

"Very good… you should try it." He says as if he's bored with this whole venture and Yamaguchi has the sense to at least look a little sheepish.

"Try all you like, you are both failing spectacularly." An amused female voice says behind them.

Yamaguchi spins to find the speaker in surprise, but Kei takes a moment to school his face into a blank scowl before slowly turning to survey whoever has pointed out their poor camouflage skills.

"S-Sorry?" Yamaguchi's already speaking but the ibis sizes up the grinning woman before them with an odd feeling of recognition ticking in the back of his head.

Her clothes are a touch on the risqué side in Kei's opinion, and short blond hair a few shades darker than his own frames a sharp face with slightly slanted eyes and a pointed chin. She's not very tall, her back straight and her arms crossed in front of her, making her chest perk just a bit and the ibis wonders if she's doing it on purpose.

Maybe it's the way her shoulders are pulled back yet still held casually, but there's something about her posture that simply screams 'over-confident' to the pale avian. It's uncanny, he thinks, how he feels like he's seen it before, but he's positive he's never met this woman.

"Can we help you?" He asks, feigning disinterest. She laughs and throws an arm over both of their shoulders and Kei wonders how he's failed to project the 'no touchy' vibe for a second time today.

"I've been looking all over for you guys!" She says with a wide smile that blooms up into her eyes and Kei realizes that she's actually pretty short.

"Er— we were actually headed for Volley Point. We need a new ball." Yamaguchi murmurs weakly and she laughs again.

"You found it!" She says with a nod toward a building across the way.

And there it is. The place they are supposed to meet their contact… except they've already attracted attention. He frowns. He doubts their person will speak to them with this obnoxious woman clinging to them.

"I know a better gear shop! Shall we head over there? We can talk about _everyone_ on your team and how they all play on the way." She says and Yamaguchi's expression is beginning to look a little frazzled.

"Ano… are you some sketchy bait salesperson?" He asks guardedly and when she looks at him with a grin that could double as a grimace, Kei is struck almost stupid at the sense of familiarity he gets.

He's _definitely_ seen that look before.

"Man you're _great_ at this, ain't ya?" She says in a grating and somehow hostile voice, the odd feral looking smirk still stretching her mouth— and then Kei's got it. She _is_ their contact.

"Tanaka." He murmurs in surprise and she looks up at him with dark eyes bright.

"Bingo! We've got a live one! What do you guys say we head over to that other shop now?" She says once more, the rough edge not quite gone from her tone as she urges them toward a launch platform. As Yamaguchi stares, Kei caves and allows himself to be guided along.

"And for the record, I work in a cafe and assist with festivals." She mutters, a salty note invading her remark and Yamaguchi perks up.

"Festivals? Really? What do you do?" He asks, his excitement creeping back into his face. She releases them and steps forward before flashing them a real smile filled with both arrogance and pride just like the bald crow was prone to.

"Heh. You're looking at the best daiko drummer in the rookery." She says, a thumb jabbing into her chest before she turns and leaps from the platform.

They follow her without question, flanking her without being told. He's not sure how, but he's positive this woman is somehow related to the bald crow. He can see hints in her face, and while she's shorter, their personalities are a mimic of one another. He's not sure how he didn't make the connection off the bat— although the blond hair probably has something to do with it. When Tanaka's hair fuzzed out long enough, it grew in dark like Asahi's before he'd shave it off when Lev or Kuroo started running a hand over it.

"Don't worry about lodgings and meals while you're here, we've got that covered. There are a _lot_ of people who want to talk to you… the safe ones will be behind closed doors later, but there are plenty of guys who'd love to question you in a more _official_ capacity so it might be a good idea if you didn't wander alone too much. In the meantime, how about a tour?" She says with another big smile and Kei quirks a brow.

"Didn't you basically just say not to go out in public while we're here?" He asks skeptically and she turns that predatory smile on him.

"Not _alone_ , you moron— that means don't get a wild feather and decide to take a flight through the military barracks or something stupid like that. You are with me right now so you will be fine. People will just think I've found some _new_ crazy friends." She says and Yamaguchi's face scrunches dubiously.

"The way you say that makes me wonder what happened to the _old_ ones." He says and her laugh erupts once more.

"Oh, I like you guys. This is going to be fun! Come on."

A/N: A little shorter, but I actually had a lot of fun writing this chapter... I can't help but feel like Tsukki would be at a complete loss when it came to dealing with kids- and Yamaguchi would be the direct opposite, lol

Eh... so, very few of my drabble chapters are from Hinata's/Kageyama's POV, so I apologize if that's what does it for you guys. They get a decent amount of 'screen time' since Drabbles usually always follows 'their' arcs (ha, except just not this one), but they are rarely in the 'driver seat'. I feel like a lot of the events in Drabbles are better told story wise by other people, so the POV is never the same from chapter to chapter. I hope that doesn't drive anyone insane :(  
Hope you all have had a wonderful holiday, stay awesome and have a great night!


	3. Year One 3-8 Metempsychosis & Trace

**Year One 3/8;** **Metempsychosis** **& Trace**

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. ~Victor Frankl

 **Hajime Iwaizume** looks up from stretching after the evening practice as the voice of Saeko Tanaka reaches his ears.

The woman was known well enough through the rookery for her performances at festivals so when his eyes confirm her identity, it's merely a formality. Despite the blemish her family name had suffered with her brother's desertion last fall, the female crow had remained tall and she'd never lost her place at the drums. Truthfully, there was no one who could touch her performances, though; the drums never sounded quite as powerful for anyone else.

He can't make out what she's saying to her companions— neither of which he recognizes, but her demeanor is as colorful as ever. She points out something in the military compound and one of his brows cocks, his curiosity piqued. When she points another direction, her voice steadily floating to his ears, his head tilts.

Saeko is doing all the talking, her two companions nodding and following her lead.

 _That isn't an interaction between friends… she's acting as a guide._

Which isn't that unusual, he supposes. She was known for having a diverse and eccentric group of friends and acquaintances, a couple more oddballs isn't out of place.

At least it's not until she banks and leads them toward the residential region that buts up against military premises. Hajime knows Saeko doesn't live over there; she lived above the cafe her family had run for years— in the opposite direction.

 _Huh. Strange_.

He shrugs and climbs to his feet, heading for the Grand King's study to deliver the report that came in today. Still his thoughts stray to her companions. The one had been just another crow, but the other… his pale wings and white-blond hair were anything _but_ crow. He'd been tall, too, and as Hajime drops outside the large assembly building that houses the main congregation hall, several strategy rooms, and the Grand King's office among other things, he racks his brain for what the lanky pale outsider might be.

As he runs through the blond's physical attributes, the sentry's feet carry him through the door and down the halls with unconscious memory, Hajime having walked this route nearly every day for the last year. His sheer size rules out the likelihood that he's any type of songbird, and he can't be an egret because while his wings are probably one of the lightest in the entire rookery at the moment, they aren't the stark white like the fishing bird. His wing strokes looked too precise and quick to be a crane, but his shoulders weren't really wide enough to be a gull. He's too slender to be a swan, so really, what was left?

Hajime is so busy sifting through any avian he knows that might have pale wings that he's caught off guard when he steps into the Grand King's office.

The rookery leader sits at his desk, staring sightlessly at a missive in his hand. His eyes make Hajime think of a man set adrift in the vast sea of memory without a paddle or tether or any way back— lost to the world until someone rescues him from the outside. His mouth is set into a flat line, his forehead creasing slightly, forming a dip between his brows. It's a look that Hajime's seen far more often in the last year than he's ever wanted to.

The Grand King is nothing like he used to be.

He's aged what looks like a century in the last twelve months, his conviction wavering alongside his health. He's far more reserved, his easy demeanor around others faltering far more frequently, and he's prone to bouts of pensive silence like this one. Those episodes aren't confined to the privacy of his study or personal quarters, either. The Grand King had been in the middle of a meeting just last week and had trailed off, his gaze going hollow and Hajime had rescued him from that one, but he's not always been on hand to step in, and the sentry knows there have been moments where he appears _weak_ to those around him.

This man is nothing but remarkable, and Hajime can't stand people questioning that. Their leader built the rookery from the ground up, fortified it with military power, and successfully safeguarded it for centuries. There's a reason the rookery population exploded like it did; it sits before him and very few people could accomplish everything he had.

For a kid who'd lost his father when he was very small, Hajime has idolized this man for centuries— ever since he'd brought him to the compound at less than five hundred years old. The sentry has the feeling it was more to give his son a companion that was close to his age but _not_ a part of the kid's sentry training unit, but they'd done nothing but clash as kids. Kageyama's instant dislike of him had been baffling, but he hadn't even gotten along with his _own_ unit back then. The Grand King had been somewhat at a loss, but had placed Hajime into another unit all the same and made a point to check in on him frequently. It had very much provided him a place to belong when he'd needed it most. Seeing the toll the last year has taken on the Grand King, he can't help but curse the man's son. Hajime hopes he gets the chance to see that brat again; the first thing he'll do is punch him.

He blinks his thoughts away before dropping a hand and rapping his knuckles once on the door. The rookery leader's gaze clears in an instant, and he pulls on that fabricated smile he uses as a default with everyone as he looks up at him.

And Hajime knows exactly how fragile that mask is. Even if no one else realizes, the sentry knows how many cracks there are in it.

"Ah, Iwa, how was practice?" He asks cavalierly. Hajime shrugs.

"Practice. Kyotani's a handful as always, but I think we will be ready for the tournament next weekend." He says dutifully. The Grand King claps his hands.

"Excellent! I'll be backing you guys so you're sure to win." He says with a grin and Hajime wants to roll his eyes.

"Your support doesn't keep the ball in the air, sir." He says blandly and one of the king's eyebrows cocks, but his smile stays in place.

"Of course it does Iwa. My support always leads to victory." He says with a grin and Hajime levels him with a flat look.

"I think your rationality is abandoning you in your old age."

"Nonsense, I have the power to grant the ball wings! And I'm not even that old." The rookery leader says with a sulk.

Hajime's all too aware of that. He is hard pressed not to point out that it would be far more _helpful_ if he'd actually _play._ The rookery leader is still in his prime, entirely capable of playing competitively for _centuries_ yet. But the last time he'd mentioned it, the Grand King had cut their conversation short, leaving him feeling as if he'd completely misstepped.

The rookery leader hasn't played Volley since that last match against Kageyama. He still attends tournaments and events, but he hasn't so much as touched a ball in the last year and Hajime isn't sure what to make of that. He wouldn't have pegged him for someone to lose his drive because his kid disappeared, but he doesn't know what else could have killed his motivation.

It was just one small aspect of the way so many things had changed.

The race pits haven't run in over a year. The bramble vines have taken over and the air track is almost completely overgrown now. Actually, the Grand King hasn't handed out any manner of corporal punishment since they'd fled, leaving it entirely at the discretion of his subordinates.

If one wasn't a crow, it would have been easier to squeeze water from a stone than it would have been to get into the military twelve months ago. Really, the only person Hajime could really think of as an exception had been the thrush in the former first unit. Now there were various avian species making it into units all over the place, songbirds quickly having become the preference as unit scouts for their sharp eyesight.

The Grand King had also laxed his aggressive campaigns in securing territory, apparently having largely lost interest in expansion. Instead, he'd turned his focus almost entirely internal. The separation between military and civilian populations has diminished. Restrictions have been eased and civilians are now allowed on military grounds for Volley matches and special events. Military ranks are allowed to vacate the premises roughly every other weekend and return to their families and homes on the outside.

The Grand King spends far more time among his people, really focusing on everything within the rookery and all the small ways he can improve their lives. He might put in to replace one of the gangways in the central hub that's getting precarious, or ensure the netting around the nurseries is sound. He has instated event committees and set up youth functions. He even takes time to just talk to the rookery residents on occasion.

It's during these bouts of immersion that Hajime sometimes sees those few real smiles break through the mask. It could be the sight of a small child's excitement when they finally figure out how to pop a ball off a wing so it flies straight in a Volley match, or the way a family shop might breathe a contented sigh at the end of the day after scrambling everyone to staff a particularly crazy dinner rush. It might play in the shadows of the Grand King's face when he overhears merchants chatting in the local market about fish and women, or when a flock of children zip by a busy throughway.

Those rare moments… are the first glimpses of the man Hajime remembered from those very first days before his wife died. In the wake of losing the last thing he cared most about—his son, the Grand King had rediscovered his own soul. As he walks among the people— civilians and military alike—as he talks with them, Hajime can see a part of the rookery leader come alive as if he's remembering why he started down this path so long ago in the first place.

He'd lost sight of those goals with the first great loss in his life… but perhaps with the second, he's caught a glimpse of them once more. It's been hell all around, but… the sentry can't help the way hope builds in his gut. Freed from the paralyzing chains of memory, the Grand King has every chance to prove to the world how great a leader he really is.

And it's all because his son up and disappeared. Hajime may actually have to thank Kageyama someday. Right after he lays him out with a good right hook.

"Iwa?"

Hajime is jarred out of his sullen thoughts and glances back up at the Grand King who watches him with a questioning look.

"Sorry, sir. I received a report from the north shore, the lead was a dead end." He says, knowing it's going to dampen their leader's mood. As expected, the easy mask fractures just a bit and the king leans back in his chair.

"I see. And we're sure that tip about a redheaded crow in that little valley outpost to the northeast was a goose chase?" He asks absently, his attention slipping slightly.

"Not a goose chase since there _was_ a redheaded crow… but it was a girl. Either way, she was too young, and she definitely still had her wings. I followed up on that one myself and it wasn't them." He says.

It had been the most promising lead they'd had— and yielded every bit as little progress in finding _any_ of the former first unit.

Honestly, Kageyama was an optimal choice for heir despite his shortcomings with public relations. Intelligence wise, he had always been top notch and when the kid was on point, his strategical skills were second probably only to the Grand King. His biggest setback was easily his introverted personality which made it difficult for everyone below him to empathize and communicate with him.

At least until that Volley match.

Seeing him fight that hard for one of his own would have won over the military at least, but he'd destroyed any devotion that would have earned him when he'd left that same day. Hajime is sure that even if Kageyama were to return with his father's full backing, the military ranks will likely never rally behind him because of that one choice.

Hajime had volunteered his team for the responsibility of tracking down any tips when searches for the heir and redhead last year had been called off, a task the Grand King had readily left in his care.

It had been tough, especially when the rest of the first unit had up and left on the eve of migration. And Hajime is confident they'd followed their two former members; he'd been in some of those interrogations so he'd known they knew next to nothing about the whole fiasco, but while they might not have known the escape plan or their current location, Hajime is certain they knew who _did._

And he had to give them credit where it was due. Leaving hours before migration was set to begin was an effective way to halt any search what with the need to leave at a such critical point— and it had the added bonus of icing over any trail they might have left for four months. By the time they'd returned in spring, leads had been few and shaky at best. He followed up on all of them anyway in the off chance that something would turn up; it was for naught.

The Grand King had never questioned his reasons for volunteering, and he hopes he never does, because he doesn't share the rookery leader's sentiments on the issue. His motives might not be the purest, and he doubts the Grand King would approve if he ever found out.

The rookery leader idly picks up a quill.

"He really gave us the slip, huh?" He says, his voice sliding into distance like his gaze, his mask falling away almost completely. The sentry's eye twitches. It's unsettling to see it consciously discarded and Hajime makes an effort at reassurance.

"All of them did, sir." He says, but it seems to have no effect. Instead the Grand King's head tilts, and his fingers begin spinning the quill.

"How horrible of a parent must I have been, Iwa, for Tobio to make that decision?" He asks finally and the question, uttered with a sort of lost stricken caliber, makes the sentry leader tense.

"You were strict and maybe a bit harsh sometimes, but Kageyama was selfish." He says adamantly. The rookery leader frowns slightly, the feather still spinning in his hand.

"I don't think that's true." Hajime blinks at the blunt rebuttal.

"How do you figure?"

"Iwa… You remember that Volley game?" He asks quietly and Hajime frowns.

How could he not? That was when they'd lost their confident Grand King, the man who replaced him uncertain of his goals and direction. The rookery leader continues before he answers.

"Tobio was injured when he played that match."

Hajime's mental processing skips, his gaze distractedly drawing to the movement of the spinning quill.

"What?"

"His dominant wing was hurt. I noticed toward the end when I saw him flinch a couple times … and yet he played that whole match without a word, no bid for breaks, not one complaint. He maintained a single-minded focus through any pain he felt and he was more streamlined with his team than he's ever been. He even stepped out of the controlling setter position and let the thrush dictate the game play. He didn't play that match for himself, Iwa. He played that match as if all of _their_ lives depended on it. There was nothing selfish about that." He finishes, the frown on his face deepening, his voice carrying a hue of lament.

"And you're sure he was actually hurt?" Hajime asks disbelievingly, an eye cocking without his permission. He'd been there that day, had read the reports. There hadn't been anything to indicate an injury.

"The infirmary notes didn't mention it, but he was in pain at the end and Shrimpy confirmed it for me later." The quill stops spinning, his gaze fracturing with sharp sorrow. "I'd have never made him play with an injury like that, Iwa. And I somehow missed that altogether."

Hajime can't stand seeing his king so _vulnerable_ , has to try to rectify it.

"You were still dealing with pulling all the outlying sentries back in after their return as well as contending with a potentially hostile neighboring clan that apparently attacked your son." He says but the Grand King shakes his head slightly with a frown, his focus fixed on the quill feather in his hand.

"A weak excuse, Iwa. The injured wing aside, there were other signs…his consuming concern for his unit and the shrimp, his quiet calm when he proposed the match, his quick acquiescence to the terms, his docility afterword— there were so many moments where he was out of character. And I saw none of it because I was too concerned with trying to drive a point home. I failed him, Iwa. What does it say about me as a father that I had to realize he was physically injured before I noticed any of the rest of it? Moreover, that he _intended_ for me to miss all of it?" He asks rhetorically… or at least Hajime hopes it rhetorical. He doesn't seem to expect an answer, which is good, because the sentry leader isn't sure what to say.

"He didn't come to me at all, didn't _want_ me to know. He felt as if he couldn't trust me and I… I reinforced that belief. I can't blame him for choosing like he did, Iwa." The Grand King murmurs, his head tilting.

Hajime almost scoffs. The Grand King couldn't blame him? Well he could. The rookery leader has changed and as a result, so has the military and the rookery itself.

But not everyone has had faith in those changes. Kageyama and the redhead's disappearance caused quite a stir, but not enough to really impact much. When his entire unit deserted after him just ahead of migration on the other hand, it had sent much of the rookery into a tailspin.

The fact that Kageyama's unit had opted to face treason for desertion in order to follow the Grand King's son over the rookery leader had jarred confidence in the Grand King and his leadership. Add to that the new policies he'd ushered in and his sudden lack of interest in territory expansion, people throughout the rookery questioned his goals and motivation. His subordinates had never doubted his orders or methods so much, his upper leadership even openly objecting to mandates on occasion. And internal discord among the military ranks allowed for outside entities to view them as vulnerable.

For all the political instability and hassle that's stemmed from the chain of events set in motion when Kageyama decided to up and leave with the redhead?

Hajime can definitely blame the brat.

"Apologies, but I disagree." He says blandly.

The Grand King glances at him sharply before one of those genuine smiles tugs at his mouth and his expression shifts back into character.

"Of course you do, Iwa. Was there anything else?" He says lightly and Hajime almost wants to sigh in relief at the rookery leader's more typical demeanor.

"I've sent Matsukawa and Watari after a lead up the Torono, but it's probably nothing. Kunimi should be back from up north in another day or so. There's been an odd report that keeps surfacing on a congregation of snakes near our borders, but it's been more footnotes to everything we've been monitoring than anything. Other than that… the guys were salty at lunch, because someone apparently told them there was going to be a barbeque today and they were dissatisfied with the standard noodles. Otherwise, if you have any advice on getting Yahaba and Kyotani to get along, it would be appreciated because I'm out of ideas." He rattles off. The Grand King taps his chin with a finger, his head tilting.

"A barbeque? What a great idea!" He says jovially and Hajime frowns.

"Please don't mess with their meals, sir. They will never leave me alone if you do."

"I'll see what I can do for you, Iwa! Oh, and I wouldn't worry too much about those two. Kyotani will push a little too far one of these days and find out that Yahaba has a bit more bite underneath his calm exterior." He says blithely and Hajime resists the urge huff.

"If you say so. Are you planning to come to the tournament next week?" He asks and the rookery leader looks toward him with one of those happy grins that Hajime knows is fake… except it's not quite as fabricated as normal.

"Why, Iwa, are you asking your benefactor to come watch you play?"

 _Ah. That's why he's so chipper. The egotistical banter is something he enjoys way too much._

"I'm determining whether or not I need to procure earplugs for my team." Hajime can't bring himself to humor the king.

"That was harsh, Iwa…would you like me to bring them for you?" He asks with a grin and Hajime blanks.

 _Well, I'm out._

"It was a pleasure speaking with you sir. Be sure to bring your winged ball." He deadpans and turns to leave.

"I'll be there Iwa, I'm sure you'll do great. I believe in you guys." The Grand King says, a little less levity in his voice, and Hajime knows he's being serious this time.

"Have a good evening, sir." He says and steps back through the door, the hint of a smile playing on his own face, but he's mentally reeling just a little.

He's always held this man in high regard, grudgingly, but high regard nonetheless. The interaction he was just a part of— it's never happened before. He's always been in the Grand King's favor somehow, but he's never been privy to the rookery leader's inner musings.

Their leader and his son were actually very alike in that they almost never let anyone close to them; the Grand King was just far superior at navigating social situations. But that exchange… the Grand King had confided in him things that Hajime's positive he's told no one. He'd leaned on Hajime for emotional support and understanding in a moment where he was vulnerable, had been comfortable enough to drop that default mask and share his honest thoughts.

For Hajime, it's both exhilarating and surreal… and he sincerely hopes it wasn't a onetime thing. He would be okay if the Grand King leaned on him more.

As he steps outside into the waning evening light, the echoes of a voice and the dissatisfied curiosity it invokes interrupt his thoughts. For the second time today, he looks up to see Saeko Tanaka flying along the edge of military grounds, but she's flanked by two different companions this time.

One of Hajime's brows creeps up, the spark of curiosity snapping to life. The grey wings almost appear black in the angled sunlight, but he recognizes the mother of the thrush from Kageyama's unit with her. And the crow on her other side is the Azumane matriarch. Those two aren't her usual company. What's more, she's heading the same direction as she was earlier: toward the residential region just outside military boundaries.

The feeling that something's amiss settles in his gut, because while Saeko might not live over that way, the family of two other former first unit members — a short crow and a grounded redhead— does.

A/N: I am SO BAD at Iwaoi interactions. I have rewritten this and rewritten it and then again like three more times and i CANT GET THEM TO SYNC right. The AU setting doesn't help, and I've separated them by a considerable age gap and a hierarchical system on top of it (seriously, trying to make the antagonistic relationship come through when the one who's always the killjoy is also a subordinate is hard). Their interactions just don't feel like they are hitting the right note. Actually they feel like they are an entire octave off and another half step out of key -_-

They are both phenomenal characters in the series and even more interesting when they appear together, but I can't for the life of me get them into the right swing.  
Bah. These two are the bane of my existence. Have a great night guys :)


	4. Year One 4-8 Trepidation & Shellback

**YEAR ONE 4/8 Trepidation & Shellback**

***DISCLAIMER: This chapter contains graphic injury. Please be aware. ^.^

Difficult situations don't make you, they reveal who you really are. ~Rose Russell

 **Ryuunosuke Tanaka** scowls as he takes another fiber tie from Noya and focuses on a section of the net that Asahi holds up in front of him. This was definitely _not_ how he'd planned to spend his day.

Noya had gotten the bright idea yesterday to use the Volley net as a spring trap across the main path that led to the road into Sheru Bay behind the house. His target had been Kageyama, returning from a hunt in the foothills off the coast with food for their evening meal… but they'd somehow overlooked the fact that he hadn't gone alone.

The prank had worked with devastating success.

Kageyama had come zipping back along the trail with Daichi just off his shoulder and Noya had tripped the catch perfectly for the net to snap into place with almost no time for them to react. Coming in behind them, Yachi had yelped and tried to brake, but the full force of both crows colliding with the net at the same time had snapped the saplings they'd attached it to, and she'd been caught with the rebounding ends from behind.

It had been, in Ryuu's opinion, one of the funniest things in the last century… until Yachi had all out screeched in panic.

Her earsplitting cry had rapidly drawn everyone from the house on the beach a thousand feet away and he'd felt… just a touch guilty. The rest of the former Karasuno unit had realized what had happened almost instantly given how he and Noya were cackling away, but Bokuto and Kuroo had set on the net with a vengeance, determined to rescue their companions. It had only made it more funny to Ryuu, and he and Noya had all but collapsed in their hilarity.

They'd drawn a shaking Yachi from the net first, Kiyoko enveloping her in a protective embrace and tossing a _most_ unimpressed look their way. Hinata had busied himself with helping Kageyama up and trying to salvage what they could of the meat. Suga and Akaashi had retrieved Yachi's basket with the fruit she'd collected, only half of it crushed in the fray.

It had still been funny when it had finally dawned on Kuroo and Bokuto what had just happened. It had stopped being funny when Daichi had taken the black cat's extended hand and picked himself up out of the net with a wry smile directed right at them. And Ryuu had felt his gut plummet.

 _It was_ that _look…_

Daichi had turned to where the streaked owl was picking up the net with a look of dawning horror creeping into his large golden eyes, and then the sentry leader had looked back at them, his expression unchanged.

And holy _balls_ had they been fucked, because the net was a disaster. There were holes and cut strings everywhere, the fibers snagged and the squares out of alignment.

It was probably the _saddest_ thing he'd seen in the last century. Ryuu could swear he'd felt his future shiver under Daichi's gaze.

"Is this the Volley Net?" He'd asked almost cordially and they'd gone rigid. If he'd been mentally functional, he'd have pointed out that it was all Noya's idea, but he could only nod jerkily alongside the short crow.

"Then I trust you two won't have any issues with fixing it."

Asahi and Lev had returned from their trip into Sheru Bay a half hour later to find them camped out on the porch, piecing the casualty of their poor decision making back together.

"Is that the Volley net? What happened?" Asahi had asked incredulously. Hinata had paused as he'd walked by.

"They got themselves banned from the house until they fix that. They'll probably be lucky to even get dinner tonight." He'd said with a smirk and Lev had let out a low whistle.

"Wow, Kiyoko, too? What did you guys _do_?"

So here they were, over a day later and still meticulously trying to salvage the net.

Asahi had taken pity on them and helped to keep it in line so they could see where the squares were _supposed_ to line up, while the lanky grey cat had taken it upon himself to provide them with conversation. He idly contemplates hog-tying the feline with the ties in Noya's hands as he lines up two strings and threads them together, because they have a ridiculous amount of net left to fix and he doesn't know how long he'll be able to stomach the grey cat's verbal diarrhea.

Really, the only silver lining Ryuu could find amid the whole mess was that Tsukishima and Yamaguchi weren't there at the moment. The ibis would never have let them live this down— probably won't cut them slack when he finds out about it on their return. Still… there's been a nervous tension at the beach house since they left.

It's been three days; given the distance, it should have taken them about two to get there so they should have arrived yesterday. They were supposed to stay for a few days and return, so another three or so and the crow and ibis should be getting back. He can almost feel how everyone is holding their breath.

He'd be lying if he says he isn't worried— if for no one else, then for the families they'd left behind. He hopes Saeko and the others are okay. He was all for letting them know they were well and fine, but he was less willing to put them in the crosshairs of suspicion to do that. And for one of their own to assume the risk involved with getting that message through… he's sure everyone will breathe easier when they are back, even Kageyama who arguably experienced the greatest friction with the blond.

The avian heir took criticism from his former unit all the time— lately it was for the white tipping that had frosted the last few flight feathers on each wing. They had shown up around the time Ryuu and the others had joined them on the beach, and it had become a running joke that Kageyama was going prematurely grey from seeing his former unit again. But no matter how much flak they gave him, he seemed to take all of it gracefully next to the responses the ibis could pull from him.

But then… Tsukishima could get a rise out of most of them. Ryuu'd butted heads with him once or twice, and Bokuto was an easy target, too. The blond had even managed to snag the black cat in one or two good bantering runs. Heh, what with owls and cats, Ryuu had been far more wary of them over the ibis at first, but Kuroo was right; even if he seemed like a background character next to the rest of them on first meeting him, Tsukishima actually projected a far larger aura than expected and could take you off guard if you weren't paying attention. Ryuu's unsure if the blond even realizes he does it most days, but he's carved out a place here regardless, and it feels odd without him around to verbally abuse them.

He smirks slightly as he takes another tie from Noya who watches their progress with a sour pout. None of the beach crew were what he'd ever expected.

Kenma was quiet and usually always with either Kuroo or Hinata, but when he spoke, everyone generally sat up with attention because what he had to say was usually important. Kuroo had initially set him on edge— his pervasive presence had been unnerving and his one cloudy eye had only made it all the more eerie. But he'd quickly gained the bald crow's respect with the way he quietly supported and sheltered them all. Lev had taken some getting used to with his childish demeanor and occasional obliviously blunt remarks. Noya could get peeved when he wasn't getting something, but Ryuu had gotten used to the gangly cat and enjoyed his company for the most part.

 _Except perhaps not while he was fixing a net_ , he muses with a twitching eyebrow. Lev had been going on about stuffed rice balls for the last hour and Ryuu was freaking _hungry_. Where was Akaashi when you needed him? He was polite but forward, and had no qualms with pointing out when someone was being a jerk or unfair.

Kind of like Shimizu. She could put a stop to something with a look sometimes. But with how they'd freaked Yachi out yesterday, he doubts she will be inclined to step in. He _did_ feel bad about that… the little bunting was as cute as Kiyoko was pretty and he'd been tempted on more than one occasion to try asking one of them out, but had refrained on the blunt advice of Hinata.

"Forget that. Neither swing for your side of the fence." He'd said.

Noya had tested the waters just to make sure and the bald crow had never laughed more at a facial handprint in his life.

The net slacks a bit in front of him and he finishes tying up the two strands he's working on and glances up with annoyance at Asahi. He's on the verge of scolding the crow for slipping in the job he volunteered for, but pauses when he notices where the other crow's gaze is trained down the open stretch of beach.

"Oi. What the heck is that?" He asks gruffly as he spots the figures in the sand, and Lev's babble ceases at his interjection.

"I think it's Bokuto and Akaashi, but they were just flying… and I think there was someone else on the ground, too." Asahi says with uncertainty.

Down on the sand, the rhythmic tapping of the ball being passed between Kageyama, Hinata, Suga, Daichi and Kenma pauses, and Kuroo sits up from where he'd been dozing in the beach grass. They all stare, baffled at the owls' odd behavior.

 _Really, what the fuck is going on?_

But everyone jars when Kuroo scrambles to his feet with a _rainbow_ of a curse, the words far more foul than any of Ryuu's pain induced tirades.

As the cat takes off down the beach toward them at an impressive clip, everyone scrambles to follow. The tie Ryuu has just taken from Noya drops from his hand, discarded alongside the pile the short crow already dumped from his own, and the net slides forgotten onto the deck from Asahi's grasp. All three crows and the grey cat split off the deck alongside the others streaking after Kuroo.

What a sight they must make, he wonders, with a half smirk. A slew of crows, one of them a former prince and another grounded, a thrush, a golden cat that looks short a vertebra and a gray cat that looks like he has a few too many— all chasing a black cat across the sand and heading for a pair of owls… and another cat?

Ryuu's got a clear view now and he can see a pair of russet ears on the extra body, but that's not where his focus draws to. The streaked owl is between the cat and Akaashi, his wings drooping uncharacteristically as the two support him beneath his arms.

Bokuto was one of the people he'd had the most misgiving about at first… probably because they were similar in a way. Both he and the streaked owl could be brash, and both were often loud— the difference between them was that while Bokuto was ' _excited_ loud', Ryuu tended to be ' _aggressive_ loud'. Both could be arrogant and cocky and there had been friction at first… but when he'd still been failing the 'flightless challenge' and was coming up on three months still stuck in ropes with no sign of escaping them, the owl had been the one to help him work his way out of it. Bokuto had been the one to give pointers on movement and had worked on fine motor control with him for hours.

Ryuu's mindset was pretty tough to shake where Volley was concerned, but he'll admit that after three months of struggling with not using his wings, he'd been frustrated. The owl stepping in, wanting to help him get better rather than leave him to his own devices had been inspiring at the very least, and truly eye opening if he was being honest. It hadn't mattered that they didn't always get along to the other avian— he'd wanted to see Ryuu succeed and be able to play with them.

Ryuu's opinion of him had done a full one-eighty, and despite his moments of occasional juvenile idiocy, the bald crow has nothing but respect for Bokuto. Which sets him all the more on edge at the way the streaked owl slumps between Akaashi and the tawny cat.

Two seconds later, he sees why and sucks in a gasp—because there's a _fucking rod_ through the outside of the owl's chest.

It's maybe a couple feet long and a couple fingers wide, angled sharply through the soft tissue of his pectoral muscle and up out the trap across the top of his shoulder. While it looks like major organs like his lungs are all safe, the top of the bar is within nerve-wracking range of his wings that haphazardly flap out of sync. It's eerie, he thinks how there's almost no blood— just the smallest bit staining his shirt at the entry and exit points, the black look of the steel disrupting the natural contours of the owl's body.

For a long moment, there's silence broken only by the sharp intakes of breath as they all surround the injured and _very_ pale owl.

" _Shit_."

The expletive sums up their collective horror and the black cat steps up in front of the impaled and dazed owl, eyeing the rod with a frown.

"Flaming hairballs, Bokuto." He murmurs and reaches for it. The tawny cat's hand snaps out and clamps down on his wrist.

"Don't touch that. Not until you are ready to deal with the blood." He says curtly and the black cat seems to notice him for the first time.

"Who are you?"

"Someone who wants to make sure he's alright." The russet cat says frostily and Ryuu realizes how short this guy really is— shorter than Kenma, but his snapping mocha eyes state he doesn't believe his height's a hindrance in any way.

The streaked owl's head lolls toward Akaashi who's looking frazzled as he supports him with a firm hand under his arm while being gingerly careful not to touch the rod.

"Akaashi, where are we going?" Bokuto asks, his large golden eyes glazed as he focuses on the other owl. Akaashi frowns darkly.

"Home, you moron. _You're_ the one who just up and left." He grouches in a tight voice.

"What's wrong with him?" Hinata squeaks out and the russet cat's mocha eyes slide his way.

"Shock. He took one look at that and took off for the place he feels safest completely on instinct. It's finally overwhelming him now." He supplies and the owl's head rolls in his direction. The cat looks up at him and for a long moment, the streaked owl watches him with a hazy frown before turning back to Akaashi.

"Hey, Kaashi… when did we adopt another cat?" He asks in a strangely fatigued voice. The tawny cat's eyebrows rise quizzically and he finds Akaashi around the slumping owl.

"Is he a little daft?" He asks and Akaashi flashes him an annoyed scowl.

"Normally, yes. It's a bad day if he's not." He mutters distractedly and jerks slightly on Bokuto's arm.

"Koutarou, look at me." He barks and the streaked owl struggles to focus on him squarely. "Stay awake. Keep your eyes on me, alright?" He says, a note of desperation creeping into his voice.

"Kay." The streaked owl says, sounding like he's steadily growing weaker, and it seems to jar the black cat. He turns and picks out the nearest idle bodies.

"Noya, find Kiyoko. Asahi, Kageyama, get something we can use as an operating table. Hinata, we're going to need water and something for bandages."

The four react without needing to be told twice, zipping back toward the house. Kuroo turns to Kenma who watches him with wide golden eyes.

"We need to know what we have on hand in the herb box." He says and the small cat is gone almost before he's finished speaking, following the others.

Bokuto's face is frighteningly pale to where he almost matches the streaks in his hair, his head dropping against the other owl's shoulder.

"Akaashi… I'm pretty sure Kuroo's going to kill me." He murmurs, and Ryuu can tell he's pretty much out of it but the other owl answers him anyway.

"Yep, and I'll watch. Come one, we have to make it home." He says and the bald crow is sure he's just trying to keep him talking because as long as Bokuto is responding, he's still with them. The streaked owl nods once, making no move to follow through on the concurrence the motion conveys.

Instead, Ryuu sees it happen almost in slow motion.

The owl collapses completely, his legs buckling under him, his head sliding off Akaashi's shoulder, and his wings flopping until the tips hit the sand as all the muscles in his body go slack. Everyone reacts at once. Kuroo swears and reaches for his shoulders, Lev materializes behind him to grasp him by the wings, Daichi and Suga each support the arm over the cat, and Ryuu braces Akaashi as the other owl's full weight falls across him and the small feline.

"We need to get him back." Kuroo says and in a matter of moments, they've hoisted the unconscious owl up on their shoulders and are trekking back toward the house, three on each side.

His wings drift along limply, the ends dragging through the sand, and it feels so much like a rookery burial that he jerks his gaze upward. From his place behind Akaashi, he can just see the rod jutting from Bokuto's chest, black against a sky as orange as Hinata's hair, and he thinks once more how unsettling the rigid object embedded in the breathing, living, body they carry really is.

And then for the first time, he wonders how the _hell_ Bokuto ended up with a metal rod _through his chest_.

"So what exactly happened that he wound up in this ridiculous state?" He mutters at Akaashi ahead of him. The owl tosses a distracted frown over his shoulder.

"I didn't really see it. I just heard a kind of crash and looked over and he was staring at it. I didn't get a chance to ask before he took off."

"He was unloading that small schooner and the boom wasn't secured right. One of the tidal wakes knocked it loose and he didn't see it over the boxes he was carrying. The beam swung around and shattered one of them which happened to be full of those rods. I'm surprised he didn't break something, actually… or end up swimming. It knocked him a good five or ten feet."

It's the tawny feline that offers the explanation and the bald crow's gaze cuts to him. The small cat had slipped out from underneath the owl when they lifted him and is keeping pace beside them, and maybe it's nerves, but Tanaka can't keep from targeting him.

"You seem to know a lot about what happened. You didn't happen to be on this boat, too, did ya?" He asks, his voice grating and unpleasant, but the cat simply turns a bland stare on him.

"I was on the one next to it with a perfect view as it happened. He got up, looked at the bar, and took off. I followed in case he needed help. I'm honestly impressed he made it this far. We must be what? A league from town?"

"Doesn't matter, what were you doing on that ship?" He drills and a tawny eyebrow creeps up the cat's forehead.

"I spent the last year on it. We just put in a couple days ago, not that it's any of your concern."

"You're a _sea rat_?" He asks incredulously and the cat's mocha eyes roll.

"Sea _cat_. If you are going to insult me, at least get the species right you uncultured moron."

"Oi, what was that?" He growls, but Kuroo barks at him and he falls silent.

It's just as well because they're covering the last few meters to the house. Noya flies out and quickly kicks the damaged net out of the way and holds the door wide for them.

But if he thought things would be better once they got inside, he was wrong. It's pandemonium. Asahi and Kageyama are still moving a table into the front room near the window for light while Hinata zips by carrying a pile of what looks suspiciously like a shredded set of sheets. Yachi steps into the doorway with a bowl of water and freezes, and Noya materializes with a bunch of towels. They gently set the unconscious owl down in time to hear the Tawny cat barking orders.

"No, no. You need to boil those first. All your tools have to be boiled." He says and Ryuu turns to see Hinata and Noya frozen under his fierce frown.

"We don't have time for—"

"That's right." Yachi's voice undercuts Kuroo's rebuff and everyone turns toward her. "It— I'm not sure what it does, but it's supposed to keep infections out." She says self-consciously.

"Then we'll do that." Kiyoko rounds the kitchen corner, her expression set into rigid neutrality. "Kuroo, Lev, start a hot fire and get a pot of water boiling."

They jump at her mandate, disappearing in a heartbeat.

"We'll need a skillet to be warm so we can dry the towels quickly. Kageyama."

The former prince silently obeys. The female crow's gaze drops to the new cat for a long moment.

"Who are you?" He stares back at her and the question of the day, one of the few people in the room at his eye level.

"A concerned bystander. What do you have for herbs?"

"Here."

Kenma rounds the corner behind her carrying said box, and the russet cat is immediately pouring over them beside him. Kiyoko watches him a moment more before shrugging mildly and looks back at the rest of them.

And her face goes pale, her expression stricken, as she takes in Bokuto.

It's odd, he thinks, because he's seen her take care of other injuries without batting an eye. She'd been right there when Yamaguchi had sprained an ankle, the tendrils of purple and yellow reaching halfway up his calf and all the way down to his toes, the same when Tsukishima had dislocated a finger. She'd also popped Kuroo's shoulder back in after a collision with Akaashi without so much as a flinch.

But she looks ready to hurl now. She swallows thickly and stiffly walks over to where the streaked owl lies on the table.

"I need scissors. And the needle."

Ryuu's head tilts, because she's completely faltered.

And as he glances around, he realizes she's not the only one. Kenma stares at the streaked owl, his eyes massive, his pupils dilated until they look black. There's a wide-eyed look on Noya's and Hinata's faces as well even if they don't look ready to vomit yet. Daichi, on the other hand, looks green around the gills and really, Kageyama had looked pale before he'd stepped into the other room, too.

Kiyoko's hand reaches out shakily before there's a flash of movement and it's caught up in a pair even smaller. Yachi keeps her eyes fixed on the bowl of water and rag she's placed on the table beside the owl when she speaks.

"I can get this. We still need food tonight." She says in the smallest voice, pleading and apologetic at the same time. Kiyoko lets out a heavy breath in relief and flees. There's a long moment of silence before Suga breaks it.

"Perhaps she could use some help, Daichi. Maybe bring Kenma with you." He says lightly and Ryuu knows he's not the only one keeping tabs on the others. As Daichi and the golden cat file out, the tawny newcomer spins in place, making Yachi jump. He holds out a slip of paper with a few things scrawled across it.

"We need these. Can someone get them?"

She hesitantly reaches for it, her eyes scanning what he'd written down.

"Birch leaves I get, but pineapple stems?" She asks with a frown. The russet cat nods.

"It speeds up healing post operation." He says.

"And yarrow powder?"

"Stops bleeding. We will need it. How fast can you get these?" The bunting looks around at them.

"Noya, can you fly for these?" She asks and the shortest crow nods.

"Okay, we need them yesterday." She says handing him the paper, and he disappears in an instant, his feet leaving the ground before he's even out the door, wings already propelling him into the air.

"Okay. I'll still need scissors and needles." The bunting says, her voice much more level than the female crow's had been. But she isn't as forward as Kiyoko had started out so Suga takes up directives once more.

"Hinata, scissors. Asahi, needles and thread. Tanaka." The bald crow snaps his gaze to the thrush, waiting for his order. "Get Yachi something to sit on in case this takes a while."

He immediately steps into the kitchen seeking a stool, and he's surprised to see Kuroo and Lev both stoking a fire to roaring levels, the pot above it already steaming. He absently notes that he hadn't even seen them return with the wood and water. Ryuu slips back out with the stool as the strange cat brings in the towels for steeping.

The little bunting carefully studies the rod, Akaashi's grey face hovering near Bokuto's head, and Ryuu is positive Suga hadn't asked him to leave with the others because the owl wouldn't have moved anyway. He's been fairly losing his mind since before Bokuto had fallen unconscious; the bald crow doubts separating him from the other owl will change that at all.

Hinata returns with the scissors and Yachi carefully cuts away his shirt until it's just his skin and the metal bar. It's disturbing how there's almost no blood, as if it weren't really as bad as it is. The thin little trickle that leaks from his chest around the rod is deceptively benign looking. Yachi analyzes the entry and exit points, tracing bones and muscles with a feather light touch before rocking back.

"Well, I don't think it hit anything major, and I'm not seeing swelling that would mean he's broken any bones. If we are lucky, we might just be able to slide it right back out." She says.

"What if we aren't lucky?" Ryuu asks, hating to bring it up, but unwilling to act with no backup plan.

"It's a good day, Tanaka." She murmurs, a frown on her face, and he lets it go and just hopes to any deity that will listen that she's right. By the time the towels have been boiled and steam dried against the skillet, Noya is stumbling back through the door, his chest heaving with exertion.

"Sorry! The apothecary was closed and I had to track down Miss Haruka at home!" He bursts out.

"Perfect timing. We're about to start." Kuroo says, walking back in with the rest of the towels freshly steamed followed by Kageyama.

Yachi carefully arranges them all with a specific task: Kuroo and Suga are ready with yarrow coated towels to place over the holes as soon as the rod is out, Kageyama, Hinata, Noya, and himself ready to stabilize the owl and prevent any movement as it's removed. The bunting looks up at Asahi imploringly and he takes a deep breath and lines up to grab the foreign object. Once everyone is set, the large crow takes hold of the metal bar and gives it one firm pull.

Just like that, it slides out with a sickening _schulp_. The sound alone is enough to drive Kageyama from the room, and he catches the redhead's flinch, too.

And then, skies above, there's _blood_.

The towels are over the holes as soon as the rod is free, but they are soaking through in almost no time at all. Yachi has them quickly adding another over top of the first ones while Asahi drops a blanket across him to preserve body heat with the amount of blood he's losing. Noya slips out, unable to handle it, and he's followed momentarily by Hinata. As the second towel layer starts darkening as well, Ryuu sees Kuroo lean slightly, his head dropping and his half cloudy gaze focusing resolutely on the floor.

The bald crow doesn't even pause to consider it, and just slides his hands into place over top of Kuroo's paling ones. The black cat looks up at him and Ryuu nods. The faintest shadow of a smile touches the corner of his mouth, and he releases a whisper of gratitude before escaping outside as well. Ryuu keeps his hands firmly in place over the towels as they soak completely, the blood leaking through and staining his fingers red.

He _really_ hopes it's a good day like the bunting says, because he really wants Bokuto to stop losing all of his life's essence.

He glances around at the others to keep from watching the trickles as they make red lines across the backs of his hands. Asahi is adding a second blanket while Yachi periodically monitors the blood flow. Akaashi looks on the verge of passing out himself, but he still has a death grip on the unconscious owl's limp hand. Suga is focused blankly on keeping pressure on the chest hole and Ryuu has to wonder how he can be so unfazed by it all. He and Asahi seem totally fine along with the bunting. Tiny Yachi watches with a sharp gaze and mild frown, not batting an eye when she has them lift the towels just a moment to gauge the flow and apply more yarrow.

The scent of a plant he'd long considered a weed mixes with the metallic scent of blood, and Ryuu takes a deep breath and focuses on the wall across from him, trying not to think about how he can feel the liquid still dripping over his fingers. He doesn't know how much time passes, but it feels far too long to him. No one should bleed like this and survive.

Movement draws his attention, and he sees Asahi pull out their sole lantern and it's obvious to him now why they set up by the window— to save their sole source of artificial light. They would work by daylight as long as it filtered in for them and switch over as the sky fell dark. He hopes Yachi can work fast.

And finally, finally, she asks Suga to lift his towels. A thin stream of red slides down the streaked owl's chest, but it's nothing like the well of crimson that had rushed from him after they'd pulled the bar. He sincerely hopes that it's not that slow because the owl has so little blood left to lose.

Still, Ryuu stares, because there's one of the holes. It looks innocent from where he's at, a small slit that pulls open slightly with every breath Bokuto draws. It doesn't look like it's even capable of gushing forth enough blood to soak the towels like it did. Yachi places a bit more yarrow on it and settles on the stool with a threaded needle. She's moving to place the first stitch when a thump beside them makes her pause.

They all turn, and there's Akaashi, as out as the owl who'd been impaled less than a half hour before. Suga moves to help, but Ryuu shakes his head.

"I got it." He says and nods to Asahi who moves to take over keeping pressure on Bokuto's shoulder wound. If he's honest, the bald crow has wanted to step outside for a while now.

He rinses his hands in the bowl beside Yachi, the towels Suga set there having already tinted the water scarlet. Wiping his hands on his shirt, he gathers up the downed owl and drags him outside. Almost as soon as he's there, Daichi and Kuroo take Akaashi from him and lay him out on the porch, Hinata running for cool water at the black cat's bidding. The grey cat pulls the net out of the way and drapes it across the railing, the holes and tears in it seeming so much less an issue than they had been earlier.

"How's it going in there?" Kuroo asks, turning to him, and he feels as if he's back at the rookery, having been asked for a status report.

"She's stitching him up now. They are probably going to need the lantern soon." He says and the black cat nods and steps back inside with a grimace. Knowing both owls are in good hands, Ryuu breathes out a long sigh, the tension in his shoulders easing just a bit.

And then his body revolts.

He barely has a chance to spin and make it to the end of the porch before he's heaving. The railing collides with his gut as his stomach expels what remains of his lunch, the reflex continuing for several seconds after it's completely empty. The bile is bitter in his mouth and burns his throat, but he does feel better when he finally sucks in another breath and straightens.

And promptly jolts at the golden cat's silent appearance at his elbow.

"You did pretty well. I'm surprised. But then, I didn't think the blood would get to Shimizu like that either." He murmurs, his gaze straying to his stomach's rejection over the railing, and Ryuu wonders how much self-control he's pulling on to not wrinkle his nose; he knows the cats have stellar senses of smell.

"I'm fine." He says automatically and Kenma's golden eyes slide up to his face with a look that states, _Really? You just desecrated the spike bush._ But the cat doesn't argue.

"Shimizu made food if you're hungry." He says instead and Ryuu almost blanches at the thought. For how starved he was only an hour ago as he sullenly worked at fixing the net, he doesn't even want to think about food for the next week.

A groan catches their attention and he turns as Daichi helps Akaashi sit up, Hinata hovering with a glass of water. He nods to the cat beside him and heads back over to the dazed owl. Lightly smacking his shoulder, he drops beside him.

"You should let us know the next time you decide to take a head dive." He says with a grin. The owl looks up at him, and the bald crow can see his eyes creasing with panic in the light that suddenly spills out from the window as Kuroo lights the lamp inside.

"Koutarou?"

"Still kicking. Yachi's still working on him." Ryuu says easily, and catches up one of the scattered ties from when they were repairing the net earlier with a contemplative look.

"You'll be the first to know anything... so maybe catch your breath for a few minutes before heading back in." He says and hands it to him before picking up another one and settling in front of the net that hangs over the railing. There's a long pause as he threads two strings together in the hazy glow that reaches them from inside.

And then Akaashi is beside him, his shoulders still rigid and his expression blank as he mimics the bald crow's actions and pulls together another section. The corner of Ryuu's mouth tips slightly, and he reaches for another tie only to have one pressed into his hand. He glances to his other side and finds Noya, the small crow having collected the scattered ties for him, Hinata hovering just behind him.

By the time Kuroo has returned five minutes later, it's no longer just he and Akaashi mending the torn net. Beside him, Kageyama, Daichi and the strange cat have taken up the cause as well, all of them fed a constant supply of repair ties by Noya and the redhead, while Kenma and Lev make sure the strings all align correctly.

Everyone outside must have been slowly going insane, he realizes. While he'd been inside keeping pressure on bloody towels, they'd been relegated to _waiting_. They'd almost instantly gravitated toward he and Akaashi, and the bald crow instinctively knows it wasn't just in support of the stricken owl, but also to distract their own anxieties as well.

He'd initially only thought of diverting Akaashi, not realizing the others probably all needed it almost as badly. He doubts any of them would find sleep right now regardless of how the last bits of sunset are slipping from the sky and darkness is swiftly falling. But as they settle into the task of restoring the net, the tension eases just a little more and for an instant, he sees another silver lining of having destroyed it in the first place.

It's slow work, and many ties have to be redone multiple times to make sure it all sits right, but for everyone around him, Ryuu gets the feeling that somehow, it helps.

A/N: Long one this time… this one took a couple days, the detail and research time consuming. For the record… I can't deal with blood and injuries, so I'd have been Kiyoko or Akaashi, lol. I legitimately felt awful for Bokuto while i put this together; sorry my happy owl birby. :(  
I gave him the joyful opening set with subtle universe/karma foreshadowing b/c I knew i was going to do this to him. I am a despicable human being, lol  
I've noticed that as they each flesh out into their own person, I have sincerely grown to love all my characters, so Nyx is going off to a corner to contemplate ways to make up for harming one of them. And berate myself because he's only the first…  
Have a fantastic evening guys :)


	5. Year One 5-8 Transpiration & Insight

**YEAR ONE 5/8 Transpiration & Insight**

Everyone you will ever meet knows something you do not. ~Bill Nye

 **Kenma Kozume's** eyes drift open, the steady thrum of Kuroo's heartbeat almost soothing enough to send him back into the grey world of sleep.

He blinks, and the events of the previous night ignite in rapid succession in his memory like a fast burning wick. Bokuto's injury, the ensuing chaos, the mounting stress as they waited for news on the owl's condition, Akaashi's collapse… it all assaults him at once, and Kuroo shifts slightly, a large hand coming up to rest on his head in reassurance. That means the black cat is already awake… which means he probably didn't sleep at all. Kenma releases a light sigh. Whenever Kuroo didn't sleep, it usually made him a bit more surly.

Today would be interesting… especially if the other cat was still here. The others might not have noticed, but the tawny feline had put Kuroo on edge off the starting line. Kenma knew there was _very_ little that got by the large black cat, and Kuroo had kept one ear perpetually swiveled in the stranger's direction the entire evening. His hair had nearly bristled on end when they learned he'd had no intention of leaving well after night had fallen and Yachi had finally finished up. It might have made sense if he were avian since they couldn't see in the dark, but he was a cat like them; the blackest of nights wasn't really a hindrance for them.

Kenma can tell some of the others are leery of him, too. Tanaka wasn't at ease and Kageyama had hardly moved more than two steps from Hinata all night, his scowls effectively preventing the redhead from striking up any sort of conversation with him. Daichi had been polite, but not open, and Kenma himself had carefully remained in the background to avoid attention. The only ones who'd seemed normal around him were Noya and Lev, which made Kenma's skin prickle. Both of those two had mouths that neither were very good at keeping tabs on. His gaze slides to the side and lands on the net slung over the railing.

It's finished.

It still _looks_ like a mess, but they should be able to use it now at least. Something that probably would have taken Tanaka and Noya a week had gotten done in an hour with everyone's help. Kenma has to give the bald crow's instincts credit. The instant need to break the tension by giving them something to do had been brilliant.

They'd just been finishing the last few ties when Yachi had stumbled out with a tired but tentatively satisfied look on her face. She'd sent Akaashi back in with strict instructions to keep him still when he woke up before taking a seat on the steps herself. She'd looked exhausted, and a small spatter of blood had marred her shirt, but she'd seemed almost content.

When Kenma had stuck his head inside, he'd been quietly awed at the bunting's work. Suga and Asahi were still scrubbing the blood off the table and cleaning up, but pristine white wraps encased the owl's shoulder and ribs, the rod gone and blood having yet to seep through. His chest had risen and fallen in even tempo beneath the blankets that covered him and he'd noted that Yachi had been serious about the 'no movement' thing. The ropes they used to bind the avians' wings in the past had secured the owl firmly to the table, preventing excess movement.

Bedding had been belatedly pulled out, and Kenma had snagged the young heir's attention when the redhead had started to nod before pointedly glancing toward the strange cat. The black-haired crow had gotten the message and had pulled out a pillow and blanket and tugged Hinata up the stairs after him to one of the unused rooms, followed quickly by Daichi and Suga.

The russet cat was still an unknown, and they had more than a few secrets, the least of which would be revealed by a glowing Hinata.

Kiyoko had gathered the bunting up and led her back inside, already half-asleep on her feet and Noya and Asahi shadowing them. Tanaka had picked out a place against the wall in the large room where he could see both them and the owls, and Kenma had noted that his choice and demeanor were very much like something Kuroo would do.

The golden cat himself had been able to stand being inside for only a few minutes before slipping back out. He'd wondered if it was just him, but it quickly became apparent that none of the cats could handle staying in the large room with the heavy lingering metallic scent of blood. Lev had simply opted to crash out on the porch, a decision the tawny cat readily followed suit on. Kuroo had come up behind him with one of the poufy blankets he favors and had settled them against the wall of the house as well with a frustrated huff, unable to let the strange cat out of his sight.

Kenma presses into the warmth of the black cat a little more beneath the heavy comforter they are wrapped in and watches as his breath fogs just a bit as it leaves his lips. The strange cat's scent is far too strong; Kenma doesn't have to search him out to know he's still here. He's determined to savor these last few moments before beginning a day he's sure will be more excitement than he'd ever wanted.

The front door opens, and just by the footsteps, Kenma knows it's Shimizu, and he feels Kuroo glance up at her. The black cat murmurs a 'thanks' and then a steaming cup of tea enters his field of vision. He blinks.

 _So much for just a little longer._

He puffs his cheeks in a slight pout and reaches out for the drink. He's barely taken a sip before Kuroo's easing out from under him, and Kenma frowns slightly, his sulk growing more pronounced. The black cat secures the blanket around him snugly with a murmured apology and heads inside, leaving him alone. Kenma has the irrational urge to stick out his bottom lip like a child. Instead he glances balefully toward where Lev and the russet cat had crashed out… and freezes.

Lev is leaned up into the corner against the railing, his green eyes steadily returning his gaze, the tawny cat still sleeping beside him. They aren't where they started and the strange cat is pressed up against him, his head resting against Lev's arm, but it's not the abrupt familiarity that makes Kenma stare. It's the fact that Lev has a new thread… and so does the short cat.

 _When the hell did that happen?_

The golden cat can hardly believe it. If he had the urge to be a child a moment ago, he thoroughly wants to bang his head against the wall beside him now.

 _This makes everything so much more complicated._

The thread isn't _just_ another thread like Lev's two that run to himself and Hinata. Though not as vivid as the one between himself and Kuroo, this one is brighter— a solid connection. It means they can't just kick this blasted stray cat out without a real reason. It's maddening because, _how the hell did they manage to establish a thread that bright in a matter of a few hours?_ Something like this usually took _years_.

The door opens once more and he flinches as Hinata and Kageyama walk out, Kageyama munching on a strip of bacon while hinata stuffs a sweet into his mouth. Suga calls something through the door about them eating 'proper' breakfasts, but neither deviate from their course. They gather up the net on their way to the beach and begin setting it back up.

 _How many people had that much of a one-track mind?_ _Seriously, has Bokuto even woken up yet?_

The door opens again, and Kuroo's back in front of him, an apple in hand. He blinks at the offering, knowing Kuroo is catering to his tastes. His golden eyes meet one that matches his and one that's foggy before flicking to the other two cats and back pointedly. One of Kuroo's large hands finds the back of his neck as Kenma takes the apple from him.

"Yeah." He murmurs almost inaudibly as he settles beside him again. "And one more confirmed avian pair."

Kenma's eyes snap back to his face. He draws in a deep, labored breath, as if he's getting way too old for this crap.

"Bokuto woke early this morning. He managed to convince Yachi to let him sleep on the floor with Akaashi. He apparently glows goldish."

 _Ah. Well that answers one question._

The door bangs open and Tanaka sticks his head out.

"Hey Volley dorks, you can't even wait until after breakfast?"

"It's your fault we didn't have a net yesterday." Hinata points out impishly. There's a mild thump inside and a smattering of voices.

"Careful, Bokuto—" Asahi begins but the owl in question cuts him off.

"Someone said breakfast. I'm starved."

"Be careful! Don't move like that—" Tanaka spins on a dime, his leering scowl snapping into place.

"Oi. You put us through enough hell yesterday, you lousy bastard. Don't shoot for a repeat." He growls, cutting across the anxious bunting.

"We need to get your tea before you eat anyway." Asahi says apologetically.

"That vile stuff you gave me last night? Screw that!"

"Bokuto..."

"Akaashi, I'm _hungry_."

"Yes, we know."

"Ah! You're bleeding through! _Please_ don't move too much!" Yachi sounds like she's close to tears and Kenma feels Kuroo tense to get up and get a handle on the situation, but Shimizu has it covered.

"Koutarou Bokuto. If you pull out Yachi's stitches, I'm not feeding you." Her voice is quiet and terrifyingly effective, and Bokuto is immediately cowed into sullen complacency.

Tanaka appears satisfied and steps outside and pauses before his eyes lock onto the russet cat who blinks up at him with mocha eyes frowning with the remnants of sleep, having woken with the loud crow's grousing.

"Oi. You're still here?"

"I'm afraid so. Your porch is most uncomfortable." He drawls fuzzily.

"You could have slept at the low tide line."

"You do realize the more hostile you are to visitors, the more delinquent it makes you seem, right?" The cat mumbles with a frown. The door opens once more before Tanaka can respond and Suga steps outside with a bowl of mandarin oranges.

"Yeah, still haven't gotten that lesson to stick." He says with an easy smile before extending the bowl to the two cats and ignoring the sulking bald crow altogether. "There is rice and natto inside along with miso. If you hurry, there might be some bacon left. My apologies, but I don't think we had a chance to really introduce ourselves yesterday so I didn't catch your name." The russet cat blinks up at him before a mild smile eases into place and he reaches for one of the sweet fruits.

Kenma frowns slightly. He doesn't think _any_ of them caught his name… he's pretty sure they'd all been hoping he'd just kind of leave. It's a thought that makes him feel a little rueful now, even if that would have been simpler.

"Morisuke Yaku. Did I hear the injured bird a moment ago?" Suga's smile becomes a grin.

"You did. He's up and about and alive… though perhaps not quite as unsupervised as he'd like to be. I don't know if there's much we can do to thank you for your help, but you are welcome to stay as long as you like."

" _Stay?_ " Tanaka asks, mortification painting his features.

"Ah, it'll be fine." Noya says, pushing through the door and tugging along a complacent Asahi. "We'll just have to start using some of the extra rooms to fit everyone in at night." He says meaningfully and Kenma has to give him credit for being covert about the real reason for splitting up the sleep pile if the cat decides to stay. Maybe it's because Shouyou was raised his younger brother, but the short crow's protective streak has definitely kicked in despite an apparent unspoken resolution to be cordial with the newcomer. Noya catches up the bald crow's arm on his way down to where the younger level pair has begun tapping a ball back and forth over the net.

"Come on, let's go play."

Tanaka sputters, but Noya's insistence is backed up when the large crow behind him picks him up and hauls him bodily down the steps at a single look from the libero. Suga chuckles lightly as Tanaka lets out an indignant squawk.

"Apologies. He's bit caustic with new people." The thrush says and the 'Yaku' cat stretches and stands with a grin.

"Heh. Must have something here he really wants to protect. Anyway, I don't know if I'll stay, but I might take you up on that breakfast. I haven't eaten since yesterday." He says and Lev smirks.

"Good idea. You're so small, I was beginning to wonder if they fed you at all on that ship." He says with a laugh and the small cat jolts.

"Would you like broken ribs, you disproportionate grimalkin?" He grouses sourly before turning and following Suga inside. Lev climbs to his feet and stretches, too, a large yawn cracking his face. He flashes them a playful smile before vaulting the railing and heading down to play with the others.

Kenma worries his lip slightly in annoyance, because he's positive the grey cat knows how complex he's made things with that new thread and could care less… and he can't tell if the other cat has realized it's there yet or not. He hadn't even glanced at the glowing connection; if he does know, he's treating it as if it doesn't exist. Kuro presses a thumb to the lip between his teeth and the golden cat glances at him.

"Knock it off. It makes me anxious when you do that." He murmurs with a slight frown and Kenma blinks. The touch is more informal than Kuroo usually is in front of others.

"I'm going to go get us something more real than that apple. Want anything?" He asks, his uneven gaze sliding away at Kenma's abruptly searching look.

"Anything's fine." He says, carefully watching the black cat as he gets up to follow the others inside. Kenma shrugs and takes a bite of his apple and stands. Pulling the comforter closer, he leans on the railing and watches the growing group at the repaired and replaced net.

The former princeling sets for Shouyou, Tanaka, and Asahi while Noya and Lev run defense on the opposite side… although the shortest crow isn't above popping the ball up to himself so he can set it to the grey cat with a maniacal grin. They could really use a real setter on their side, but Akaashi's probably attached to the streaked owl's hip for the immediate future and Kenma hasn't been awake long enough yet to stoke his motivation to play without being asked. Eh, the cocky little crow has enough energy for two people anyway.

Tanaka seems to have forgotten about his gripe with their visitor in no time flat and trash-talks both the grey cat and the libero on the other side of the net with every toss Kageyama sends his way. Noya gloats every time he and Lev save one, and the bald crow promises to make them eat it the next time, while Asahi interjects plaintively when the name-calling escalates.

But the two that are unusually quiet are the young level pair.

Hinata and Kageyama are more in tandem than they have been in recent weeks and Kenma has to surmise that it must have been a combination of the sobering events of last night and having been deprived of a net for a whole day that's helped close the minor schism that's been developing a bit. He doubts most of the others have noticed— Kuroo and the thrush maybe, but he's heard a remark or two between them that occasionally betrays the growing tension there.

It started a few months back, just before spring had really set in. Everyone would make trips into town as needed, except for Hinata and Kageyama. Given his lineage, it wasn't the wisest idea for the crow setter to be in 'public' where he might be noticed or recognized by a passing sentry or something. And since he'd abandoned his post on account of a grounded redheaded crow, Shouyou was something of a high profile as well. Honestly, if someone were to recognize one of them before the other, Kenma'd have banked on it being Shouyou simply because there weren't many crows with his unique hair and voice, and he doubted there was another _grounded_ one anywhere on the continent... not to mention that any avian who'd been grounded would be stared at with horror, meaning whoever did see him would _remember_ him.

They'd taken precautions and resolved to keep them out of Sheru Bay and the public domain— especially after that incident with the gull at that fish shop. The only exception was Ukai's place on rare occasions. Kenma didn't know how or who he was, but the banded blond had instantly recognized the two off the bat. He hadn't turned them in, though, and instead had quietly welcomed all of them to the area and had even warned them when sentries were passing through.

Confined to the beach house and Ukai's place allowed for little external human interaction, which had suited the black-haired setter just fine. But it had driven Shouyou, who thrived on the social bonds he could bridge with _anyone_ , insane. The kid had had a minor mental breakdown and Daichi and Suga had relented and let him come into Sheru Bay proper with them on occasion.

Except there had been one caveat.

Since both the redhead and Kageyama were prominent figures under pursuit, either one being seen would be a risk; them being seen _together_ multiplied it drastically. The catch: Kageyama wouldn't be allowed to go with on those little trips into town— which had set not at all with the princeling. He'd fought the idea every step, and his wings had often reflected his fierce disagreements with his leveler when he'd start shedding burned feathers to the shocked bewilderment of pretty much all the rest of them.

It hadn't mattered, and Shouyou'd won his way in the end, but it had driven a wedge between them again. Watching them at the moment, Kenma almost can't see it today.

"Wow, they're all playing volley."

Kenma almost jumps at the sound of the russet cat beside him. He turns to glance at him dubiously.

"Most avians do." He says haltingly, puzzled by the remark.

"I've never seen them play on the ground like us, though." Yaku says with interest.

"Oh. They still wanted to play with Shouyou, so they learned to play our version."

"The redhead, right? What happened to him?"

"He never said and we never asked. I doubt it's a happy memory." Kuroo says cooly just behind them, a touch of warning lacing his words. The cat glances over his shoulder at the imposing black feline with mildly defensive surprise.

"I imagine not. He lost his wings." Yaku says with a frown, before looking back toward the group by the net. "How long ago did it happen?"

Kenma's head tilts and he wonders if the cat is fishing for details. It makes him wonder what this feline is _really_ after.

"Just over a year." He answers carefully. Yaku's eyes widen just a bit.

"It just happened then. He moves like he's been without them far longer. I'd have assumed closer to a decade." He says, studying Shouyou with sharp focus.

Kenma watches him curiously; if he'd connected the dots on who Shouyou and Kageyama were, he wouldn't have been surprised to learn how long ago the redhead had been grounded. Either that, or he's exceptional at acting.

"He's been playing Volley on foot almost since it happened. The coordination would progress much quicker under that kind of demand." He says. Yaku nods.

"He's come a long way from almost dying. He's lucky his leveler was there." Kenma's eyes fly wide and he feels Kuroo jerk behind him.

"What was that?" Kuroo asks in a dangerously neutral voice.

"Hm? Oh, he's lucky the black-haired boy was around when it happened. Both are actually." He says with a mild smile and glances back at them, but stiffens at their expressions. Kenma watches him with wide eyes while Kuroo's half cloudy gaze is fixed on him with disturbing intensity.

"How do you know they are levelers?" The black cat asks, the barest hint of frost in his voice as he pushes into the smaller cat's personal space. Yaku blinks and then frowns with puzzlement.

"You mean besides how they are inseparable?" He asks, his head tilting before turning and pointing to Kageyama. "His wings give it away."

 _What?_

Kenma stares at him for a long moment before his golden gaze mimics Kuroo's and seeks out the avian prince.

"The white tipping on the last few feathers? That only happens when the leveler's other half seriously almost bought it. An avian with light wings will tip darker, but the concept is universal for all birds." He says.

Kenma's jaw drops.

The white tipping that had appeared with that molt last fall… was a result of the attack almost seven months prior? He whips his gaze to Kuroo who's wearing a similar expression. The black cat's brows pull down into a frown before he straightens.

"Oi, Feathers." He calls and Kageyama turns a nonplused look on him as they all stop. "Walk your scrawny ass up here… and bring your shrimp."

Everyone turns to stare at them, Shouyou spotting him and frowning. Kenma blinks and wonders if his mouth was still hanging open. For a moment, the golden cat wonders if the former prince will refuse— and Shouyou has that deep calculating look that means he's analyzing the situation to determine if he needs to intervene.

But Kageyama scoffs and drops the ball before starting toward them, the redhead following without needing any encouragement. And so does everyone else.

 _Oh, joy. Here we go._ Kenma knew there'd be more excitement than he'd signed up for.

They pile onto the porch around the three cats, the young level pair guarded, Noya, Asahi, and Lev confused, and Tanaka wearing his typical scowling sneer.

"How often do you molt, Feathers?" Kuroo asks bluntly and Kageyama blinks, his head tilting in a gesture that matches the confusion on the redhead's face at the question.

"Once or twice a year?" He murmurs, his cobalt gaze sliding toward Yaku with suspicion. The golden cat pulls in a quiet breath.

They didn't shed feathers for a year… which meant that the feathers Kageyama had had when they met were the same ones as before Shouyou had been grounded— this side effect wouldn't have kicked in yet. And they'd spent those first six months tiptoeing around each other, so they'd never had any fights; Kageyama never had a chance to lose the feathers via a 'breaking' episode. He'd finally molted as the first frosts had hit and it had finally surfaced. Kenma looks up at the black cat, reeling at the revelation.

"It's possible Kuroo." He says softly, his awe and unease bleeding through.

"Oi. What are we freaking out about?" Tanaka asks, leering between them. Kuroo looks back toward Kageyama.

"We might have just figured out what the deal with your white feathers is." He says and Kenma thinks it sounds like he's trying to speak around something in his throat. They all seem to press in at that, their curiosity tinting with excitement.

"Really? Did he eat something he wasn't supposed to?" Noya asks with a grin.

"Nothing so entertaining… actually, it might be something of a problem."

"Problem?" Asahi echoes, voicing the uncertainty that paints all six of their faces.

"It's a leveler thing." He says evenly and their gazes collectively darken and all find the russet cat.

"You told him?" Kageyama asks, his gaze narrowing and finding Kuroo with accusation.

"He knew." Kenma cuts in, and all eyes swing to him. "The white tipping gave it away. Something about your leveler having almost died. If someone is aware of this side effect, they'll recognize you as a level pair."

They stare back at him and he regrets having spoken. He _hates_ attention.

And then Kageyama's jaw tightens and he spins on his heel and stalks off the porch with a black scowl, the redhead following with clear agitation as he curses under his breath.

"Kageyama, wait— hold on a sec, what's wrong? Kageyama…" The black-haired setter swiftly heads down the beach with a marked stiffness, the little redhead growing steadily more anxious, but they are soon out of earshot.

"Wow, you're all really skittish about this. They're levelers, what's the big deal? It's not like they're royalty or something…" Yaku says with a frown.

 _Oh, this is perfect. He_ definitely _said that on purpose._

But in the event he's _wrong_...

Kenma wants to facepalm as several pairs of eyes flicker around the circle, an awkward silence that definitely conveys their discomfort. Thank god for Kuroo, because the black cat has the mental presence to attempt to salvage the situation.

"They've been through hell. They're justified in their suspicion of everyone they meet. You stick around long enough, maybe they'll tell you about it someday." He murmurs.

Yaku glances up at him with an eyebrow raised in skepticism but doesn't get a chance to answer before the door is banging again as Akaashi awkwardly shoulders it open. Between the owl and Daichi, they carefully shuffle Bokuto out onto the porch, Yachi hovering fretfully behind them and Suga bringing out a chair. The wrappings across his chest and shoulder are spotting with the effort to move, but Bokuto barely notices it.

"You couldn't just take it easy? You had a rod through your chest twelve hours ago." The owl setter mutters.

"I'm _not_ staying inside, Akaashi." The streaked owl looks a little pale, but determined and Kenma almost smiles.

Bokuto has always hated being stuck inside— the only time he'd tolerated it was when they were playing volley in that barn this last winter. On top of that, the streaked owl was monumentally stubborn, too; Kenma is certain that if he didn't get someone to help him leave the house, he'd have dragged himself through the doorway on his own— and probably opened his wounds and bled out, too. The golden cat imagines he'd have still died happy simply because he wasn't inside.

"Just make sure you mind what Yachi tells you and you drink the teas Kiyoko makes." Daichi says with a grin as they settle him into the chair. The owl looks up at the crow reproachfully.

"Those taste horrible." He says sourly and Kuroo chuckles.

"If you'd been paying attention, you wouldn't be in a position to need them. Deal with it." He grumbles sardonically.

"We can try sweetening them a bit with honey to cover the taste next time, if you want." Suga offers and Bokuto looks at him with the first bit of enthusiasm the golden cat has seen since he'd left for the docks yesterday morning.

"No promises I won't still complain." He says with a grin.

"Pick your battles, Bokuto. Also, you might thank Yaku. His help was invaluable in treating you." Daichi says with a nod toward the russet cat. Bokuto frowns and his gaze sweeps across them.

"Oi. What are you all looking…" The streaked owl pauses mid thought as he locks onto the newcomer, his gold eyes focusing sharply. And then he leans over to the other owl and fails at whispering.

"Hey, Akaashi… when did we adopt another cat?"

A/N: So, HUGE thank you to Iron Rose Writer for the title suggestion... I think I like it :)

Another longer one and I am slow to post; apologies. Has been a long 10+ hr day and still had to clean up the chapter when I got home, which means it is still pretty rough- so it might not be as nice. :p Thank you all for reading and I hope you have a spectacular night!


	6. Year One 6-8 Bathos & Kismet

**YEAR ONE 6/8 Bathos & Kismet**

The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be. ~Marcel Pagnol

 **Tadashi Yamaguchi** pushes open the door to the small flat, his eyes squinting into the dim room.

"Impressive." The ibis drawls behind him, clearly _un_ impressed.

"Sorry, Tsukki. This was the best I could do." He says apologetically, setting down the candle the innkeeper had given them. The only reason they are actually even staying the night in an inn is because the blond had decreed that he would sooner nail his wings to the floor than spend the night outside.

Tadashi didn't mind camping at all, and he'd have assumed the ibis would be cool with it, too, given how he had a penchant for early mornings. But after the first night of this trip, Tsukki had flatly refused to sleep on the ground out in the open again.

Although… it _may_ have had something to do with the freaking _bear_ that had ambled through their small clearing in the early gray hours of the day. It'd simply just walked through their campsite, minding its own business; they never even had the chance to fully wake before it was disappearing through the brush again.

The blond hadn't said a word and simply turned the most cynically astonished expression on him. It was a rare look for the ibis and combined with the bizarre reality that a _bear_ had just walked through their campsite within feet of them, it had made Tadashi snort at its sheer vibe of 'What the flying _fuck_?'.

Still, while Tadashi could see how that could make someone definitively uneasy, the bear hadn't even _done_ anything and nixing camping options all together might've been the slightest bit overkill in his opinion. As he eyes the single bed with misgiving, he's sure one of them would be better than this.

The room is tiny, with little more than a small bed that probably won't even accommodate Tsukki's full height, a worn dresser, a single chair, a small desk for writing, and a sole window that is large enough to allow them to see freedom but never reach it should there be a fire— which seems like an alarming possibility given the careless state of the rest of the building and the number of drunken idiots surrounded by candle flame in the tavern downstairs.

Tadashi is amazed that Tsukki's actually holding his tongue as much as he is, because the ibis is a massive neat freak and hates disorder. The crow can't help but be awed at his resolve when he drops on the scuzzy blanket that's draped across the bed and rubs his eyes.

"We're being followed, Yamaguchi." He says quietly, his tone evenly conversational and Tadashi's train of thought disintegrates.

"Oh… I had that feeling, but I wasn't sure." He says, marveling at how the blond is so collected. Tsukki's unperturbed demeanor is calming, and it keeps him level, too. "What do you think we should do?" He asks and sharp yellow-umber eyes rise to meet his own dark ones in the low candle light.

"We'll leave early tomorrow. If we can't lose him, we stop at Ukai's and have him send a runner."

"And after that? We can't go back to the house if we have a tail…" He says.

"Not sure. If nothing else, we can just make it look like a stopover and keep heading down the coast. Just keep running until our hound gets careless, and we either capture him or give him the slip I suppose."

"That sounds like it'd be a pain." He murmurs and Tsukki shrugs.

"You can check the rookery off your list; is there anywhere else you'd like to go?"

Tadashi blinks at the question. He's had the impression that the ibis had never been too keen on this air trip in the first place… is he really suggesting they extend it?

Internally, the freckled crow is grinning shyly at the thought despite how he's grown to miss the others in the scant week he and Tsukki have been away. Just him and the tall blond again like it was before they stumbled on the freak pair and the three cats does have its appeal, but… as it sits, they are still several hours' flight from Sheru Bay _and_ they've acquired a shadow.

"I don't know Tsukki. We've already stirred things up with this one, and the others will worry." He says with a soft smile.

"I didn't ask about the others, Yamaguchi." He says, his voice flatlining. The smile on the freckled crow's face reaches up into his eyes and he drops beside the bed, his gaze finding a crack in the wood floor self-consciously.

"I guess… I think it would be cool to see the prism cliffs on the west coast? And maybe—"

"Yamaguchi." Tadashi breaks off, his gaze snapping up to meet Tsukki's, his cheeks burning at the way an eyebrow creeps up the ibis' forehead.

"What?" He asks in a small voice.

"What are you doing on the floor." The way he says it, it isn't a question and Tadashi blinks at him owlishly.

"Eh… the bed isn't very big? You can have it." He murmurs, but Tsukki's skepticism blooms across his face.

"We frequently occupy a space smaller than this. You don't know what's been on the floor, so do get off of it."

"Ah. Right." Tadashi says hurriedly and scrambles to his feet.

He doesn't point out that the same could definitely be said about the bed; he's positive the ibis is _well_ aware of that fact without him having to mention it. He shifts his weight awkwardly until Tsukki half sighs and moves over so he can settle beside him.

"So the prism cliffs. Anywhere else?" The ibis says, his umber gaze fixed on the opposite wall and Tadashi smiles softly, his chest swelling with quiet content.

"I kind of want to see the mountains in the winter with all the snow, but that would get really cold for you." He says.

Tsukki isn't a crow like him and wouldn't have the same tolerance for lower temperatures so he'd never considered the option… but the ibis had directly asked and he would give him nothing but honest answers.

"You want to go freeze on some mountain?"

"It's supposed to be one of those humbling 'make you feel small' things, I think." He says before catching the ibis eying him a little mockingly, and he finds his hands with a sheepish grin. "Right, the cold is an issue. It's a stupid idea… I just thought it'd be cool no matter what if I got to see it with you."

The blond doesn't immediately reply and Tadashi glances up at him uncertainly, wondering if he overstepped somehow. He's met with an umber gaze filled with critical study that flickers away from him after a moment.

"Eh… forget the mountains. Maybe we can just go back to the rookery someday. We will know people next time, so we won't just be winging it." He tries, unsure what to make of the contemplative expression that furrows Tsukki's brow. He's not sure if the dubious glance the blond throws his way is what he was after, though.

"They were all really nice, you know. Can you imagine having grown up with family like that?" He babbles, wondering if Tsukki can hear the wistful lament he feels.

They hadn't been so lucky to have been surrounded by a real family. Tsukki had an older brother that he hadn't stayed in touch with who was probably worried sick about him, but they'd been largely on their own for most of their lives. Seeing all the people still at the rookery dying for information on the former first unit… the overwhelming _love_ conveyed— and extended— to them was difficult to bear and heartbreaking to leave.

They'd stayed with Momma Yu, stepping into a modicum of the two smallest crows' lives surrounded by the pandemonium of siblings and constant visitors. Tsukki had lost a couple more flight feathers to Noya's younger siblings over the course of their stay, but he'd barely seemed to notice. The ibis had largely been a wallflower unless directly addressed during their days in the Nishinoya home, opting to leave storytelling to Tadashi despite his occasional anxiety induced shyness.

He'd told their hosting family all about Noya, Hinata, and Kageyama. He'd told Suga's mom all about the thrush and his leveler. He'd told Saeko and Asahi's mother about the loudest and quietest of the two former unit members. He'd talked about the beach house and the cats and the owls, and he'd talked about Ground Volley.

Everyone had been wonderful, the Nishinoya matriarch herself nothing short of everything Tadashi imagined a mother would be. She'd been soft spoken and kind, yet firm with the Nishinoya children when they got out of hand. She'd offered quiet advice over evening meals, picked up on their tastes and catered to them. She'd openly radiated warmth and happiness… and she'd been ever attentive and every bit as concerned for them as Tadashi imagined she'd be with Noya and Hinata.

Being in the presence of Momma Yu had initially set the freckled crow on his heels, reeling under the onslaught of ancient half formed impressions of a time when he'd had a mother, too. And within hours, he hadn't wanted to leave this woman who'd all but taken them in as simply two more lost avians to add to her family. She was the reason they'd stayed an extra day in the rookery, the reason they were coming home late.

They were supposed to return this evening, and their absence will likely cause no amount of worry for everyone at the beach, but Tadashi was the one who'd asked to stay and he can't bring himself to regret it. He shakes his head slightly.

"They had so much there Tsukki. They had futures and families— still have those people and their love. I feel foolish, but I'm envious."

"It wouldn't be the perfect world you imagine, Tadashi— don't forget that they left all of that for a reason." The freckled crow blinks before nodding his head slightly.

Tsukki's right of course. Few of the former unit voiced much about their reasons, but Suga had told them a little about the nature of Hinata's and Kageyama's escape once. The simple fact that Momma Yu, this sweet woman who clearly loved all of them and not just her own sons, had been the one to help them leave said more than words could ever explain.

 _No mother would chance the water for her children if the shore were safe._

Yamaguchi drops his head against Tsukki's shoulder, his thoughts plunging into a melancholy gloom. He hopes the ibis won't mind the contact, is relieved that it doesn't even seem to register with the taller avian.

They all seemed to have something harrowing in their past. He and Tsukki have their own tragedies having lost their parents at the same time, and he wishes the ibis would send his brother a raven sometimes. Akiteru is the last remaining blood relative the blond has and Yamaguchi _knows_ the guy has stayed in the same place for the last six centuries expressly so that Tsukki would know where to find him. It's been probably close to a century since Tsukki last spoke to him, and Yamaguchi's considered sending him a message from Sheru Bay if for no other reason than to let him know they are still alive. Perhaps, if the ibis asks where he wants to go again, he will suggest a visit to see Akiteru.

Lev is something of a mystery, the freak pair and two cats having stumbled upon him on their way to the coast. He is smart, but perpetually a child, despite the fact that the freckled crow is positive the cat was every bit as old as himself or Tsukki. The lanky cat has remarked that he was simply wandering alone when they found him and thought it would be fun to tag along, but there are moments where he gets lost in thought and Yamaguchi is positive he's trapped in a memory with the way his normally happy face slips into hollow seriousness.

He knows Kenma and Kuroo used to be part of a cat clan in the interior, but they don't talk much about the people they'd spent time with, so he assumes they parted on either horrible terms or _final_ ones. Akaashi had told them once about how he'd met Bokuto and it had been chilling to learn the reason behind owl parl hunts… and it had made complete sense why Bokuto had never mentioned it. The entirety of the Karasuno unit had fled the rookery—what should have been a place of safety—after Hinata had been _grounded_ which was a horror out of nightmare in and of itself.

The last year on the beach has seemed like a dream next to what everyone has gone through. Like a delirious hallucination that they will eventually have to wake up from to face the real world once more. It feels like that fuzzy place right before sleep has a chance to fully wear off and he first opens his eyes. Yamaguchi pulls in a quiet sigh.

"You're right Tsukki. They obviously fled something horrible… but I can't help feeling like we're bringing it right back down on them again."

A/N: Woot! Have some Tsukkiyama :)

I am running on like no sleep for the last 2 days, just finished pulling my third 10 hr shift, and I'm pretty sure sleep deprivation induces some form of psychosis. My SO is concerned. I feel like a zombie, but I'm actually motivated to write which usually means whatever I get done will be crackfic worthy. This should be entertaining. I wonder if a Monster or Red Bull will enhance the lunacy. Have an awesome night you guys!


	7. Year One 7-8 Risking Imminent Peril

**YEAR ONE 7/8 Risking Imminent Peril**

You have to risk going too far to discover just how far you can really go. ~TS Elliot

 **Hajime Iwaizumi** keeps his gaze focused on the contrasting pairs of wings ahead of him.

They've been flying almost nonstop since they left the rookery and he can't be certain he hasn't been spotted as they'd made a beeline for the coast before turning south when they'd hit the ocean. They'd stopped in a dingy inn overnight along the roadway, leaving before the sun was over the horizon this morning. He's nearly lost them several times in his efforts to remain undetected, but they've picked up speed today; it makes Hajime think they are closing in on their destination— and stars willing, maybe he will finally get a break in his search for the avian prince.

The two foreign avians had spent four days in the rookery, surrounded by family and close friends of the former first unit. They'd never been without an escort whenever they'd ventured from the Nishinoya residence with either Saeko or Momma Yu or one of the others always with them, so he'd had no opportunity to casually approach.

He'd been torturously conflicted about reporting them to the Grand King. An interrogation might have gotten some answers… but it would have lost them the opportunity to possibly gain more through simple surveillance. Since everyone they met with had ties to the former first unit, Hajime was positive beyond doubt that they knew them, would have any amount of information on the heir and his unit, the least of which would be their location. But it might have taken time to obtain that during which the former first unit could easily be spooked by their absence and slip through his fingers once more. And no matter how much it felt like a betrayal, Hajime couldn't do it.

Here was the first _tangible_ link to Kageyama and the others he'd had in over a year. Here was his first real chance of finding them that was more than just a story or rumor. He didn't know when or _if_ he'd get another like it. So he'd returned to the rookery leader's study and asked for a few days' leave to chase down a lead that seemed promising. Although surprised, the Grand King had been nothing but amenable to the request.

And as the two head into a dive over a small beach town ahead of him, Hajime feels his limbs shiver in anticipation, because he feels like he's _this_ _close_. This close to finding Kageyama and the first unit. This close to unraveling the riddle of their disappearance and solving the question of their location. This close to _succeeding_ in something that had turned zero results for over a year.

He briefly loses sight of them as he skims the treetops at top speed to close in from where he'd been hanging back and he wants to curse. He's come too far to fail now, and as he crests the treeline before the wash of buildings, he catches sight of pale wings. He double checks with slight annoyance to make sure that it's not a gull; he'd nearly lost them more than once yesterday after they'd hit the coast and the other white winged avians were _everywhere_.

After following them for five days, he's gotten to recognize their shapes from a distance and they've just landed outside a small shop where a man that reminds him oddly of Saeko Tanaka with his banded blond hair and black crow wings, has stepped out to meet them with an easy grin. He doesn't recognize this person at all, but the two definitely know him; they've both been pretty antisocial this whole trip and the freckled crow chatters to him far more than simple greetings would require while the blond nods and answers when addressed. Hajime frowns slightly.

 _Another contact point?_

The man laughs and asks something else and nods after a moment… and then his eyes cut up and straight to him. Hajime goes as rigid as his gliding wings allow.

 _Shit. They definitely knew he was tailing them._

It makes his blood chill in his veins, his entire being uneasy. He'd thought that maybe he'd gone undetected… but he was wrong. And in an instant, he's furious with himself. He's probably just lost the chance to find the Grand King's stupid kid, probably won't get another shot like this, and _he's_ probably being watched now, too.

 _Just freaking peachy_.

He should have reported it to the Grand King— or at the very least, initiated some type of contact when the two were alone en route here yesterday. The shop owner nods once more and turns to head back inside, the two following without a backward glance.

Hajime debates on his next action for several moments as he drops down onto the main street running through the small fishing village. Everyone seems to stare at him and he wants to curse this aspect of small towns; everyone knew everyone else, and anyone not from there was an instant curiosity. If the former unit were here, everyone would likely be aware of them… but questioning them on it might make them suspicious. If they've taken a liking to the former first unit, he could be facing a potentially dangerous situation if they decide he's a threat.

He agitatedly runs a hand through his hair in indecision.

A pair of grey wings drift by him and he blinks as he recognizes feathers the hue of a thrush's— like the one that had been part of Kageyama's unit. He scowls.

Well, they know he's here at this point, might as well try to figure out what he can. He resolves to forward a raven back to the rookery before he leaves in the off chance things go south. He eyes the shop they entered speculatively, before heading for the one across the street, the village eyes following his movements. He has to shake off the crawling feeling of being observed, trying to remind himself that they are all probably more curious than anything. He steps through the doorway and blinks as he's assaulted by the smell of fresh fish.

 _Well, it_ is _a fishing village,_ he surmises.

A single gull works behind the counter, the only other person he can see. When he throws a leering gaze his way, Hajime has to force his own expression into a flat look. The gull pauses his task of deboning the filets of a large fish long enough to grunt something over his shoulder.

 _Nice guy,_ Hajime muses cynically as a small woman with speckled wings emerges from the back room. Her gaze settles on him and she offers a polite smile.

"Can I help you with anything?" Hajime blanks for a moment.

"Eh… I'm looking for something I can eat on the fly. Have a couple strips of dried tuna or sardines maybe?" He asks and she shakes her head once.

"Haven't had enough on hand of either of those to dry lately, but we do have some cod?" She offers instead and he nods.

"That will work… you will take rookery currency?"

Her eyes sharpen on him and he wonders for a moment if he's made her uneasy.

"We do." She says, and if he hadn't been paying attention, he'd have missed the glance she throws to the gull altogether. She heads to an aerated bin and pulls out a couple dried filets before heading back to the counter.

"Sentries aren't a common sight in Sheru Bay, what brings you here?" She asks offhandedly as she starts wrapping the fish.

"Passing through. It's a charming little village; you really don't get many of us?"

"Three in the last year, and that's unusual."

"Three, huh? What were they doing here?"

"Same as you I guess; haven't seen any of them more than once." She says with a frown. Hajime's head tilts at the odd hint of disdain and he throws caution to the wind.

"You wouldn't remember what they looked like would you? I might know them." He asks on a whim. Her sharp eyes settle back on his face with consideration and the gull beside her stills.

"And if I did?" She asks, her voice dropping with a touch of annoyance. Hajime can't help but press for information.

"Was one of them grounded?" The gull glances at her, but she keeps her gaze fixed on him with an apathetic stare.

"The redhead wasn't the problem, the black haired one was. Wherever he came from, he had military training, so we assumed he must have been a sentry at least." She says and Hajime sucks in a breath, struggling to keep his instant excitement from his face.

 _They were here. Kageyama and the shrimp were here. He has a real lead._

His limbs almost hum with the adrenaline of it and he has to work to keep his impatience for more information from his voice.

"Military training? How so?"

"He nearly killed one of my dock runners in no time flat, and grounded him for a good eight months afterword. Every move was calculated and precise." She says crisply, her eyes snapping with irritation.

"Did he? You wouldn't know where he and the shrimp went?" He asks, not quite able to keep the anticipation out of his voice and she eyes him a little appraisingly.

"Afraid not. They were with the odd group that lives south of town, but I haven't seen either of them since, so I couldn't say what happened to them after that."

"This group, do you know where they are?"

"They are on the beach like a league out or something… but you might want to bring a few more people than just your lonesome if you plan to take that on. There's a fair number of them and I guarantee it won't be what you expect." She says, her eyes dropping back to where she finishes wrapping the fish. Hajime's head tilts.

"What do you mean?"

"They run the gamut, a bunch of dissidents ranging from songbirds to crows to cats. More than one of them are shady in my opinion and the way the girls live there with them is indecent. They even have a sour ibis that shows up in Sheru Bay on occasion."

 _Ibis._

Hajime instantly connects the dots. He'd puzzled for _days_ on what that stupid blond character might be. Perhaps following them had been the better choice after all. He hadn't known when he'd first noticed those two that they would lead to this. He'd finally struck a gold vein on information. He can hardly contain himself and the itch to find a raven is overpowering; he has to tell the Grand King about this. Even if they aren't still here, the people they'd sheltered with _were_. He fishes out a few coins for the fish.

"I appreciate all your help. If I have more questions, may I come back?" He asks politely and the woman offers him a leering smile.

"Anytime." She says easily, handing him the package. Hajime nods and turns to leave.

He needs to find a raven.

He's two steps outside the door when a hand drops on his shoulder. He turns to meet yellow umber eyes staring down at him, blond hair framing a haughty smile, and his gut drops.

"So _you're_ the shadow."

 _Fuck._

He has a moment of complete irritation where all he can think is 'well, this certainly went to hell', before he recovers his composure and levels a flat look back at the ibis.

"I beg your pardon?" He says blandly, hoping he doesn't sound as off kilter as he feels.

"I'm sure you must be tired from your efforts. Care to take a walk with me? I know just the place to put you up for the night." The blond says, holding his other hand out in invitation.

Hajime has no backup; fleeing or fighting these two here would only cause a scene and he doesn't know if they have allies up in the vicinity… perhaps patience and rigid compliance would be prudent at the moment. Still, he's most definitely _not_ comfortable with this.

"I think I can find my own accommodations." He murmurs a bit stiffly even as he reluctantly allows the blond to lead him forward, the freckled crow hanging off his other elbow with wide eyes.

"Don't bother, we've got it covered. Gotta hand it to you, though... you picked the one place in town that wouldn't have covered for us." The ibis says conversationally, as if they weren't still in the middle of the little village.

Hajime blanches just a bit at the aggressive remark that is unnerving given the blond's calm exterior. His blunt confidence makes his gut curl in dread...and another block and the town ends. Hajime eyes the road that leads to nothing more than a path winding into the undergrowth with misgiving. The ibis' hand leaves his shoulder and grips a length of rope coiled over his arm that the sentry hadn't seen at first and his unease redoubles.

Perhaps he _should_ make a scene.

"What do you want?" He asks, his eyes narrowing.

"That's _really_ the question you want to start with? Not 'where is the avian prince and his annoying shrimp'? Not 'how did they manage to slip past every sentry and escape the rookery'? Or perhaps more critically, 'are they even still alive'?"

Hajime jars slightly. He's never really considered that possibility. His gut twists with dread at the answer, but he has to know.

"Are they?" He asks, sincerely trying to cover the tension spidering through him from his gut. He sincerely hopes they are, the alternative is the last bit of news he wants to bring back for the Grand King. His son disappearing nearly broke him; Hajime's positive his son being dead would destroy him.

"They are." The freckled crow says from his other side, a grin spreading across his face and it makes Hajime frown. This guy seems far less malicious somehow and it's difficult to read them both with their contradicting demeanors. The sentry leader jolts when the blond's hand catches on Hajime's shoulder again.

Hajime abruptly feels _most_ uneasy, and he notices for the first time that they've left the town behind. He hadn't even realized they'd entered the forest. The plant life has closed in around them with very little sunshine reaching the moss beds amid the brush and trees.

 _Pinfeathers, these guys move fast on foot— and they're freakishly silent, too… like cats. For avians they're frighteningly comfortable on the ground._

He knows they're entirely capable in flight though, because they just covered a hell of a jaunt in the last two days to get here. Perhaps cooperation was another poor choice; there's no one out here to help if they decide to off him the way the ibis insinuates.

"We'll give you the answers to all the questions you have about your little princeling. Seriously— anything you want to know. But make sure you find out everything you can, because I can't promise you'll still be around in the morning." The ibis says with a nonchalant shrug, but his umber eyes snap with more dangerous promise when they slide his way.

"Whoa, Tsukki! Okay, don't worry, he's kidding." The crow says quickly, his hands outstretched. The blond huffs in dark amusement.

"No, no. Do worry. _He's_ delusional. It seems to be a standard for nearly every crow I've met. That and idiocy."

The blond's arm shifts to drop across his shoulder in a bizarrely cordial gesture, almost as if they were old acquaintances. Hajime has to wonder how such an easygoing action could possibly feel nothing but _hostile._

"See, the thing about crows is they all seem fascinated by the simplest things. Take my wings for example— they're obviously not black. Doesn't matter if it's a kid or an adult or if they are sheltered or traveled, all crows seem to react the same. We'd only been in the rookery five minutes and I'd lost a feather to some little girl with creepy black eyes, about this high." He says glancing to where he measures out an approximate height with his other hand.

"Know what?" He asks looking back at him, that smirk back in place, "You are never going to find that kid. So…" The ibis spreads a pale wing in front of him with a flourish.

"Would you like a feather, too?" He asks, a predatory glint tinting his arrogant smirk.

Hajime stares at him, getting the distinct impression the blond is sincerely enjoying himself.

 _These guys killed off a child?_

"You're _insane_." He says thickly, feeling slightly sick.

"A side effect of being surrounded by black winged morons for a year, I assure you. Now we still have a ways to go. Still good to walk or your legs stop working?"

Hajime glares back at the ibis, his mind snapping with brittle anger and nerves; he'd never noticed that he'd stopped. He's a sentry and has full combat training and they are two random strangers. Chances are good that he shouldn't have too much issue besting them in a fight or at the very least, escaping. And if Kageyama and the first unit are indeed close by... everything he's worked for is just out of reach, but he feels like he's brushing it with his fingertips.

Perhaps he can stick around a _little_ longer; it will be worth it if he can get more information. He starts forward mechanically, and they fall into step beside him once more.

"Where are we going?" He asks sourly.

"I thought you knew already. A league south on the beach?" The umber eyes slide his way disdainfully. "You _did_ want to meet your former comrades again, right?"

Hajime has no idea how the blond seems privy to the conversation he'd had with the woman in the fish shop as if he were there. It's radically disturbing his peace of mind, but the taller avian's question prods his attention.

"They are there?"

"For the moment." The ibis responds amiably. Hajime sucks in a breath.

 _They're here._ He really is _that close_.

"Hey, what's your name?" The freckled crow asks and his eyebrows rise in surprise.

"Eh… Iwaizumi." He says and immediately regrets his candor. He was basically accompanying them under voluntary duress; why would he be foolish enough to offer any information about himself?

"I bet you have a bunch of stories about Kageyama and the others. Hey Tsukki, this is the perfect opportunity to gain blackmail material for those two." He looks up at the ibis with a grin and a glint of admiration.

"An excellent plan, Yamaguchi. If he survives till tomorrow, I'll look forward to it." The blond says flatly.

"I'm expected back at the rookery in two days. I don't check in, they will come looking." Hajime says sharply and the umber eyes fix on him skeptically.

"No one knows you're here do they?" The blond drawls and the sentry freezes, his reaction a dead giveaway.

"Wow, Tsukki, you were right! How did you know?" The freckled crow asks with awe.

"He was following us. He didn't know our destination so he wouldn't have known how long it would take to reach. No reconnaissance agent would lay out a deadline like that for such a wide open mission." Hajime's tension heightens as the blond calls his bluff with immediate certainty.

 _This guy is perceptive… and this just got more dangerous._

The Grand King had known he was taking off to chase down a lead, but Hajime had told him nothing more about it. Not even his unit had been told much beyond expecting his absence for a few days. The situation is rapidly devolving into potential peril and the sentry leader feels his shoulders bracing.

Staying was a mistake. They now know he can be removed at any point and if they're careful, no one will ever find out what happened to him. He's over his head. He'd been careless in his obsession to find out anything he could, had given in to impulse and pushed too far.

He needs to leave _now._

If he can land a blow and stun them both for just a moment, he should be able to use that lapse to escape. Hajime's eyes dart between the two before he snaps his wings at both, every muscle tensing for an explosive takeoff. He's confident he's faster than either, he can do it.

He can make it back alive. He can—

Hajime falters as he only feels one wing connect.

He may have caught the crow off guard, but the ibis has sidestepped the arc of the heavy longbone. His body jerks into action regardless, his entire being in a mad dash to leave the ground. He's already blown the element of surprise, he won't get another chance to get the jump.

His feet leave the ground and his confidence sparks. His wings beat cleanly, and he's already covered several feet. He'll be able to make it, they won't have a shot of catching him.

He'll make it out.

Hajime's world spins sharply as one of his wings jerks.

He scrambles to stabilize himself, but the one is caught and he's left flailing. With belated dread, he realizes he's lost control.

 _Shit!_

There's another tug on his wing and he's sent into a plummeting careen the ten feet to the ground. The world goes watery when he hits hard, his shoulder jarring and his face quite literally planting into the dirt before he can get an arm up to stop it.

He struggles upright, adrenaline moving his limbs. He has to get back to the Grand King.

Has to.

He looks up and meets yellow umber eyes, slitted in unbridled _fury_. There's a flash of pale wing, and then nothing.

A/N: So, Iwaizumi just couldn't leave it be. I wasn't sure if this came out very well. A subordinate Iwa is just freaking hard to write.

Also. Nyx went snowborading today. Nyx does this a lot in the winter and is adequate at snowboarding. Enough so that Nyx can get down pretty much any hill, avoid the trees and children, and NOT die. Nyx can even ride switch, land small jumps and jibs, and even pop a 180 once in a while. What Nyx cannot do is a 15 ft jump. Nyx now has a hyper extended elbow. Today has been fun. Fortunately, I don't need my elbow to type. Or play volleyball... or keep snowboarding, lol ^.^  
I shall reserve the rest of my complaining over my poor life choices for my SO; he's good at ignoring me when I'm whining XD Have a spectacular night guys! :)


	8. Year One 8-8 Congruity

**YEAR ONE 8/8 Congruity**

Love is the most powerful emotion, and that makes it the most dangerous. ~Sara Lance, 'Arrow'

 **Tadashi Yamaguchi** watches the crow stir from where he's perched on a downed tree. Tsukki _did_ get him pretty good, he muses.

By the time he'd gotten back on his feet, the ibis had already knocked the dark haired sentry out. It's been a good couple minutes, but he's finally coming around. The sentry's brow scrunches up as his dark eyes slide open with confusion.

"Iwaizumi, right?" Tadashi asks with a small smile.

The crow looks up at him with puzzlement before memory dawns. He jerks only to look down at his bound hands with shock. He tugs at the bindings on his hands and feet, his wings straining against the ropes that pin his wings shut.

"It's no use. Akaashi works with Bokuto on the docks and he's scary good at knots. Tsukki picked up a few tricks from him and not even Hinata can escape his ties." Tadashi grins and the crow looks back up at him quizzically.

"Hinata?"

"Yeah, the shrimp volunteered to let him practice the knots. He'd been being annoying all day, so Tsukki just left him there once he'd finished. It was hilarious… Hinata was almost hysterical by the time Kageyama returned an hour later— he was fine as soon as he was released, but your prince was livid the whole rest of the day. It put Tsukki in probably one of the best moods I've ever seen." He says with a laugh. The crow watches him balefully from his place on the ground and Tadashi's head tilts.

"For being a sentry like they are, you kind of surprised us." He murmurs. Iwaizumi looks away.

"What, not as good at slinking away from responsibility?" He mutters peevishly. Tadashi huffs lightly in amusement.

"No, not as smart." The crow's eyes snap to his face with dark insult.

"Excuse me?" He growls and Tadashi smiles benignly.

"For all your training, you seem to miss critical details when you can least afford to. We might not be sentries like you or the other Karasuno guys, but you seem to forget: we've been with the majority of that former unit for more than six months, the redhead and your heir over a year. It's foolish on your part to assume they've been in any way idle; they still run through all their combat drills every morning together expressly for an event like this— and so do we. We aren't as skilled in hand to hand, but you underestimate what we've picked up in that time.

"And since we shelter a fugitive prince and his unit, we are all in a perpetual state of paranoia; as such, we are exceptionally attentive. You nearly tripped twice on the uneven path out of town, which means you aren't used to wandering tougher terrain on foot. Your wings were also pulled at too high an angle, indicating how nervous you were— especially after we left Sheru Bay behind. We even knew you were following before we stopped last night. Because we're always on edge, we notice _everything._

"And these things… the rest of Kageyama's unit would never have failed to take them into account. Everyone, even Noya and Tanaka with as impulsive as they can get, can all focus when the situation calls for it. If things get serious, they consider all facets, studying every side before making a decision, no matter how pressed or quickly they must do so.

"Perhaps 'not as smart' wasn't the right way to say it. 'Not as sharp' might be a better description."

The crow glares at him a moment more before straining at the ropes once again, trying to right himself. Tadashi sighs softly.

"It will be simpler if you don't do that. Tsukki will be back any moment anyway."

"My captors are child murderers, and you expect me not to struggle?" Iwaizumi growls and Tadashi blinks before laughing again.

"Child murderers… wow. Tsukki isn't very friendly, and he's hard to get along with for most people, but I will let you in on a little secret. No matter how much he tells himself he hates kids, he can't stand when they get hurt or upset. He hates it so much that he will do almost anything to fix whatever's wrong. That little girl is fine; she never took the feather, he let her have it. He _was_ serious when he said you'll never find her again, but not because she's dead." He says, his smile withering just a bit.

"He said it that way, because _your_ life is in question. It will depend on whatever call Kageyama and Kuroo make. I'd peg Kuroo as the one more likely to deliver a bleak verdict, but… you _are_ from the rookery. Kageyama is actually pretty conflict averse in general— even if you attack him head on, he doesn't usually get that violent. You take after something he cares about, though, and all bets are off. He's entirely liable to go on a hardline offensive, and just now, he has something that he just might kill to protect. It's not a good day to represent the entity that threatens that."

The sentry crow looks up from wrestling with the rope around his hands with surprise, his mouth dropping open.

"What?"

The freckled crow's eyebrow raises at the befuddled expression in the other's dark eyes.

"Wait… you mean you don't even know why they left—"

"Yamaguchi." Tadashi jolts and turns with a smile as the ibis drops back beside him.

"Tsukki! That was quick."

"I said watch him, not make friends." The blond says disdainfully, dropping beside him as Kuroo and Lev slip through the undergrowth.

"Sorry, Tsukki. But I learned something. The reason they left apparently isn't common knowledge."

"That's because you're dealing with the Grand King. He's a master at revealing half-truths." Kuroo says darkly, sizing up the bound crow who stares back at both felines a little dumbstruck.

"Skies. She wasn't kidding. They're freaking cats."

"That reaction never gets old. Just wait, it gets even better." Lev grins, his green eyes bright.

Kuroo bends beside the tense avian and unties the crow's feet. Tossing the rope to Tsukishima, he hauls the other man into a sitting position.

"Here's the deal, rookery rat. You can either walk under your own power, or we'll drag you. The choice is yours." He says frostily, his mismatched gaze piercing.

Iwaizumi glares back before rocking himself onto his knees and precariously climbing to his feet, the movement stilted and awkward with his hands and wings still tied. Once he has his balance, he glowers back at the black cat as if daring him to show his back and lead the way.

But Tadashi can tell, Kuroo isn't affected. As he turns and heads back down the path without another word, everyone falls in silently behind him, the bound sentry flanked on either side. The black cat's frozen expression is intimidating, the creases around his eyes and the slight downturn of his mouth promising retribution if his words are ignored. Kuroo is rarely ever this serious and it's a dead giveaway for the freckled crow that he will tolerate nothing out of line right now.

The only sounds that echo in Tadashi's ears are the footsteps of their captive and the waves that crash in the remote background. The sentry's steps are harsh, the grind of earth beneath his feet breaking in an unsteady rhythm with his balance compromised by his restricted movements. Tadashi can't help but feel like even if he wasn't tied up like he is, he could still have found him in the dark by his footsteps alone.

It only takes another ten minutes at a brisk pace and one pause when the sentry trips a third time, before they are breaking through the trees and onto the sun washed beach beside their home. Kenma slinks out of the trees to their side, shadowed by Suga and the freckled crow smirks. He'd wondered if he'd caught a flash of movement that indicated they'd been keeping tabs from the shadows; he imaines their silent appearance must be unnerving for their captive.

Figures materialize around them one by one as Kuroo leads the sentry around to the sand in front of the house, everyone watching with grim silence. Suga comes to stand beside Daichi, Asahi drifts closer to Noya and Tanaka, Kenma leaps up on the porch to stand beside Kiyoko and Yachi, Akaashi steps forward while Bokuto leans gingerly on the railing sporting a... bandaged shoulder?

Tadashi blinks. Ukai hadn't lied… they had apparently had some excitement this last week. He blinks and shakes his head.

Everyone is there… everyone except Hinata and Kageyama. Their captive's gaze darts around before it lands on Akaashi and stops as the dark-haired setter comes up in front of him, the sentry's pupils dilating.

"An _owl_? _Seriously_?" He manages.

"There's more than one, Iwaizumi." Noya says with a frown. "He might be a little laid up at the moment, but I promise he's not someone you want to dismiss even now." The short crow jerks a thumb toward Bokuto who watches from his place on the porch with keen interest. The injured avian throws him a predatory grin when the sentry crow looks up at him. For an instant, Tadashi can entirely believe the story about owl parl hunts.

Iwaizumi looks mildly alarmed when Kuroo forces him to his knees, Akaashi dropping in front of him and reaching for his bound hands.

"It's close, but you didn't thread this knot right, Tsukishima. The line needs to split the wrists three times, not just two." He murmurs as he fixes it before binding the sentries elbows at his sides with another rope across his back.

"You must really think a lot of me that you treat me as such a significant threat." Their captive grumbles through his tension.

"Forgive us, but sentries haven't left the best taste in our mouths— even for those of us who've been among them." Kuroo says in a brittle voice as a scowl darkens his face. Iwaizumi glares up at him before finding Tsukki with an accusatory glance.

"You said he was here, so where is he?"

"Why are you here, Iwaizumi." Kageyama says coldly from over his shoulder and Tadashi jumps. He hadn't realized the crow setter had dropped in behind them.

The kneeling sentry's head snaps toward him with wide eyes. The crow's jaw works once, twice before he manages a reply.

"Pinfeathers... you aren't dead." He croaks.

"None of us are, despite the Grand King's best efforts." Kageyama says blandly. Iwaizumi frowns and glances around.

"Where's the shrimp?"

"Asleep right now. Last night was rough."

"Don't you think this might be a legitimate reason to wake him, Feathers?" Lev asks but Kuroo sends him a silencing glance.

"Feathers' call is sound; the kid has no sense of self preservation and would probably be asking us to release this bastard already. Let him sleep."

The former heir comes to stand before the kneeling sentry, an icy flat look on his face, and Iwaizumi cocks a brow.

"Skies, you move like a cat, too." he says scornfully. Tadashi smirks because the other crow is finally noticing the difference between them.

"I'd hope so. Kuroo's the one who taught him to hunt." Noya says and for a moment, Kuroo's tension cracks.

"You were _all_ like that at first. You might be unbeatable in close quarter combat, logically tactical and disciplined, and hardwired to follow orders to the letter— but weren't none of you that could stalk a deer and get close enough to take it down even with a _ranged_ weapon."

Tadashi has to smile at that, because the training sessions with the black cat to heighten their awareness of movement and surroundings had been a challenge for one avian prince— probably more from personality clashes than actually learning to be silent, but a challenge nonetheless. Once they'd gotten the initial skills down, they'd had massive training games of hide and seek including all three cats to hone them. They'd been entertaining and effective and they could all be silent now if they wanted to.

"Never mind. Again, why are you here, Iwaizumi." Kageyama says, undeterred by the sidetracking remark.

"That should be obvious. I was tasked with tracking you down." He mutters with a scowl and Kageyama's head tilts.

"Congratulations ' _Iwa'_..." He says almost cordially before taking a slight step backward and offering a half bow to the kneeling sentry, his arms spreading out in a gesture to all the faces around them. "You've found us."

Iwaizumi glares up at him as he straightens, his face dropping into a frozen glower.

"What will you do now, Iwaizumi? Report back to my father and bring a storm of sentries down on us? Give him the chance to drag me back to the rookery to be groomed as a puppet to rule while he executes my unit and all my companions? Try as you like, but I warn you, I have exactly zero intention of returning."

Iwaizumi eyes widen and he stares up at him as if Kageyama's wings just melted.

"Zero intention… are you serious?" He asks completely shocked, and the avian prince's head cants, his gaze hollow in its intent.

"Fatally." He says in a level voice the freckled crow has never heard from him. He's heard irritation, annoyance, anger, disappointment, and even excitement and the mythical-level rare laugh… but he's never heard this leaded tone. Even if the single word didn't convey it, the sound of it alone projects the deadly serious conviction of the crow setter.

"Then I want you to swear you will never come back." He says forcefully and one of Kageyama's brows creeps up his forehead in surprise.

"After my old position now, are we _Iwa_?" He drawls and the bound crow frowns darkly.

"Hardly, you arrogant little—"

"You're welcome to it Iwaizumi. I will have nothing to do with the rookery and you sound like it matters to you. I couldn't care less about your motives." Kageyama says in that same level tone.

"And you'll just stay here and quietly run your little patch of misfits in this small corner of the world, right?" Iwaizumi asks skeptically.

"You're wrong on two counts, Iwaizumi. I don't lead this group and if we feel the threat of the rookery in any way, I promise we won't be here long."

"You're the heir to the rookery leadership, and you don't control these people? They're all letting you speak for them." The bound sentry points out with a glare.

"That's probably because you came for me in the first place. But out here, Kuroo runs the show; I'm just another face with no special standing. Your ultimate fate rests with him."

"You take orders from someone else now?" Iwaizumi asks scornfully.

"Better him than the Grand King."

"You've gone insane."

"Perhaps. Sanity was never so freeing, though." Kageyama says simply and Iwaizumi fixes him with a baffled gaze full of study.

"You'd really… never return?" He asks quizzically.

"Pending Kuroo's verdict, I'll swear to that if you do something for us." Kageyama says.

"What's that?" The bound crow asks, his brows drawing down in suspicion.

"Make sure we are left alone. You're supposed to be tracking us down right? Feed them false leads, downplay any too close to home, send a raven if we're in the crosshairs… or better yet, tell my father we're dead." Kageyama rattles off and Tadashi almost can't contain his surprise.

"I can't do that. I tell him you died and it surfaces that you _are_ in fact alive, I'll lose his confidence." Iwaizumi says bluntly.

"The rest of it then. Make sure we don't end up with sentries coming down on us, and I personally swear I'll never willingly return to the rookery." Kageyama says evenly and the crow stares up at him for several moments as if considering whether or not the setter is just messing with him.

"Done." He says, his eyes fixing on Kageyama as if he expects the crow to be joking.

"Then the only thing left is to find out if you can work something out with Kuroo." Kageyama shrugs.

"And which one is Kuroo?"

"You've met him already." Kageyama says and gestures to the cat where he leans against the railing in front of Kenma and the girls, his sharp eyes watching the situation pan out with critical scrutiny. The black cat pushes off and comes to squat before the bound sentry until he's eye level with him, his expression cold and calculating.

"You sure about this, Feathers? You believe this guy isn't going to take this straight back to your old man if we turn him loose? Bokuto isn't in any condition to just pick up and move at the moment if we needed to."

"This is why I don't fight for your position— so I don't have to make decisions like this. His character aside, I don't think he will out us, but it's your call." Kageyama says blithely and Kuroo huffs with annoyance before fixing Iwaizumi with a hard look.

"It would be simpler to kill you now, but Feathers is willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. I don't like you, nor do I trust you, but _if_ we release you and find ourselves the object of a chase, I will make you a promise of my own. If so much as one sentry comes after us, I promise you, your 'Grand King' will be the first person I target." Kuroo says darkly and Iwaizumi glares right back.

"Good luck, furball. You'd never reach him." The sentry says with a scoff.

"Not true." Kageyama says flatly.

"Your leader's office is in the large building that houses assemblies, right beside the armory and senior barracks. He has a penchant for milk bread if I remember right, and the mess hall only serves that once a month on the third Saturday, correct?"

Iwaizumi's gaze snaps to Kageyama.

"You sold rookery information and details on high ranking officials for shelter?" He barks.

"Never had to. Kuroo's been inside the rookery far more often than you'd probably like to know." Kageyama answers with a bored expression.

"You expect me to believe a _cat_ infiltrated the rookery regularly enough to be able to ascertain the Grand King's preferences and the mess hall's schedule?" He snaps.

"Would another example help ease that doubt?" Kuroo asks cavalierly and Iwaizumi glares at him.

"How about this one. There used to be a drill sergeant who'd fall asleep on his shifts outside the south entrance of the training barracks. It was just for kicks at first, but I got to where I'd periodically glue his flight feathers together with pine sap when he'd nod off. He used to get so _angry_."

"Hah!? That was you? That bastard thought it was us and we got so many freaking drills for that!" Tanaka barks and a sly, dangerous grin tips the black cat's mouth, his uneven gaze never leaving Iwaizumi's face.

"That's why it was so funny." Kuroo says. The sentry crow's eye twitches.

"So you see, I've been slipping into the rookery for centuries; it would be a small task to take out one unsuspecting crow. My promise stands. We come under fire, your leader dies. Right after you. So what will it be?" The bound sentry holds his piercing gaze.

"No one will come." He says and Kuroo's head tilts.

"You sure about that?" Iwaizumi's glare turns sour with affront.

"No one will come." He reiterates, the words twisting with irritation.

"Then I suppose all we can do is wait and see if you are lying." Kuroo says, glancing toward Akaashi.

The owl kneels and deftly undoes the ropes binding the avian sentry's arms as the black cat straightens. Iwaizumi climbs to his feet warily, stretching his limbs while Akaashi works on the ropes on his wings.

"One thing, Iwaizumi." Kageyama says quietly and all eyes turn toward him. "I might personally be averse to taking up against a former ally, but if we end up in danger because of you, the blinky cat won't be your only worry."

The bound sentry scoffs wryly and shakes out his wings as the last ropes fall away.

"You really don't care what happens to all those people, do you?" He asks with disdain.

"My current concerns would prevent me from giving them the devotion they need. They have my father for that in either case." Feathers says and Iwaizumi shakes his head.

"And when he's gone? He's had two assassination attempts in the last three months."

"Fascinating." Kageyama says, looking bored.

Iwaizumi's face darkens with fury and Tadashi sucks in a soft breath when he reflexively swings at the former heir. Kageyama is phenomenal at close combat and he's calm enough that the freckled crow knows the sentry will never connect, but he doesn't even get the chance to evade as the strike is stopped midway by a small hand. Everyone stills as the small redhead that has materialized beside the avian prince looks up at Iwaizumi, his almond eyes maniacal in their deadened quality. It's only enhanced by the hints of fatigue in his face that manifest in slight shadows beneath his orbs, the smallest creases at their corners, and the slightly pale pallor of his skin.

"You aren't at home Iwaizumi. Caution would serve you well here." He says quietly.

"Hinata… you were supposed to be asleep." Kageyama murmurs.

"I was. It got too quiet." He says flatly before glancing over at Tsukki and himself. "You guys are late." He murmurs and the way he says it has the freckled crow positive that's why the grounded redhead didn't sleep last night and he wonders if Tsukki feels the same twinge of guilt he does. "Glad to see you made it back."

Tadashi's on the verge of responding when a voice he doesn't recognize reaches their ears.

"Okay, I've let the quartermaster know I won't be going back out with them this year, so we're set there."

Everyone turns as a small cat with russet ears rounds a sandy palm shrub, heading directly for the house and everyone in front of it, and Tadashi frowns in confusion.

 _Who was_ this _guy?_

"Also, it sounds like there was a sentry in town, so…" He trails away as his mocha eyes lock onto Iwaizumi.

"Yeah… He's not in town anymore." Tanaka says dryly. The cat's eyes skim the faces around him, lingering on his and Tsukki's before glancing up at Lev.

"I think I can place them from everything I've heard, but this one," He says with a nod at Iwaizumi, "what's a sentry doing here?"

"An old acquaintance. He was just leaving." Kageyama says in a clipped voice.

"Old acquaintance? Why would you guys know a sentry?"

"Eh... we all used to be sentries." Asahi says and the strange cat blinks.

"Seriously?"

"Well not _all_ of us— they weren't," Noya says gesturing to himself and Tsukki, "and of course not the owls and girls either, but the rest of us, yeah."

"You're all really young to be sentries aren't you?" He asks with a frown.

"That's kind of how it works in the rookery. The best warriors are usually the ones trained from the beginning." Daichi remarks.

"Huh. And him?" The russet cat asks of Iwaizumi.

"He's going to return to the rookery and ideally, we never see him again. He will never come _here_ again in any case. If he needs to get a message to us, his point of contact will be Ukai— preferably by raven as to avoid the chatter about a sentry being in town again." Kageyama says, and Tadashi can entirely believe that he is the son of the Grand King by the way his voice leaves no room for argument.

"I won't be able to just ping you with position updates all the time… and you can't send me notes anytime your position changes either. My getting a sudden influx of ravens or a steep increase in sending them won't go unnoticed." Iwaizumi argues.

"If something is critical for our situation, you will find a way to let us know. If that means sending a raven from outside the rookery, so be it. You will receive only the barest minimum of notifications on our movements, so messages should be sparse enough that they'll be easy to overlook. If it becomes an issue, we will work out an alternative for contacting you." Kageyama says curtly and Iwaizumi frowns darkly, but grudgingly nods all the same.

"Then we're finished, here. Don't be late on checking back in at the rookery, _Iwa_." Kageyama says, a touch of mockery in his voice. The sentry scoffs in annoyance, a muttered insult escaping under his breath before he turns and leaps into the air. Tadashi hears Kuroo release a drawn-out breath as he disappears beyond the tree line.

"So, what stunt did Bokuto pull that he's confined to the porch?" Tsukki drawls.

"Wow, they picked up on that quick." Lev grins as said owl scowls and Kuroo brings a hand up to rub his head.

"It's a long story."

"And the cat?" Another huff escapes the black cat and his hand shifts to the back of his neck.

"Also part of that mess." Tsukki's eyebrow climbs up his forehead.

"I see. Leaving you to your own devices for a week was a mistake."

Tadashi smothers a chuckle.

"And to think I was actually _concerned_ about your snarky ass." Kuroo mutters. Tsukki's other eyebrow rises to meet the first, his face sporting one of his best smugly unimpressed looks.

"You are going to tell me I'm wrong? Bokuto attempts suicide, you guys attract another stray, and the net looks like you tried herding cats with it."

Tadashi fails to keep his laugh in as Kuroo's head rolls his way with an annoyed glance.

"I resent that."

A/N: So the last one before the first time lapse. I think it gets interesting from here on out, so hope you guys are ready XD

Hah. I loved the ending of this chapter. I found it irrationally funny and laughed myself stupid. I hope it's the same for you guys. Have an awesome night y'all!


	9. Year One,25 1-1 Perception & Insight

**YEAR ONE.25 Perception & Insight**

A brother is a friend God gave you; a friend is a brother your heart chose for you. ~Proverb

~Three Months Later, High Summer~

 **Morisuke Yaku** drops beside the small sulking crow with the gold tuft of hair.

Noya's just been brushed off in no uncertain terms by Hinata who is, like his leveler, in a foul mood. The arguments had been slowly coloring their other normal interactions— there is an invisible tension around the two almost constantly now.

Through the hot summer months, Morisuke has gotten to know each of the beach crew fairly well, but he still puzzles over the group's most colorful level pair. They are so frighteningly in sync sometimes that they could be the same person… and others, they are so antagonistic and hostile that he honestly worries they might kill each other.

It's nothing like Suga and Daichi who strike one of the cleanest balances that he's ever seen as levelers; he can't remember any point since meeting them where they've disagreed even once. Heh, Daichi even has a pet name for Suga—something about stars or the like of which the thrush always pinks at when he says it around the others. Not that the crow is conspicuous about it; the avians don't have as good of ears as he and the other cats, so he doubts any of them have caught the former sentry leader's quiet term of affection for his leveler.

But even the petty points of contention between the owl pair look like nothing more than occasional annoyances next to the grounded redhead and his crow leveler's periodic full scale confrontations. No, the dynamics between Hinata and Kageyama run the gamut, their range in their interactions akin to the ocean's many faces. They could be as easy as quiet waves that meld the sand calmingly across the beach to as chaotic as roaring breakers that crash against unyielding rocks.

Today has been one of the latter.

It's been cyclical, the heated fights coming in tandem with every trip the redhead makes into town while the black-haired setter remains at home. Really, Morisuke had woken this morning and predicted exactly how it would go.

The redhead would steadily chatter excitedly while the brooding crow would turn silent, growing ever more sullen the brighter his leveler got. It would eventually end with Kageyama making some scathing remark that differed from his regular insults because of the weight it carried and Hinata would pull up short before firing back one of his own. It would spiral down into the singularly _most_ uncomfortable spectator sport until the grounded avian was red-faced and fuming and his leveler was almost swaying on his feet due to the 'breaking' reaction.

The fact that it didn't seem to affect Hinata the same way had been slowly driving the russet cat insane, because he'd _never_ seen something like this before. He'd briefly wondered if they somehow weren't actually levelers and had quickly discarded the notion; Hinata's nightly glowing trick had firmly cemented that reality into place.

There had to be something else strange about their bond, though, because while the redhead might break out into a sweat indicating a mild fever, Kageyama was prone to becoming violently sick… not that Hinata had probably ever seen it. Kageyama had gone to great lengths to conceal that detail from him and it had made Morisuke frown that much more at the strangely one-sided 'breaking' symptoms.

The black-haired setter would go pale and eventually just stop talking. The most closed off expression that outwardly conveyed nothing but disdain would slip into place, and even if Morisuke saw it for what it was— a bid to simply keep himself on his feet, Hinata wouldn't recognize the extreme discomfort of his leveler and would puff up in fury at the sudden lack of communication of any type before turning and stomping off. Kageyama never pursued the argument further nor followed after the redhead as he'd leave for Sheru Bay at that point— probably more because he _couldn't_ than actively choosing not to. Instead, he'd wait until the kid was out of sight and earshot before promptly emptying his stomach in the nearest bush.

Their arguments had quickly extended themselves to cold shouldering each other even after Hinata had returned from his visits into Sheru Bay, and would linger until the redhead would grudgingly curl up next to an already exhausted and sleeping Kageyama. They'd wake the next morning and while it would be a little awkward with the way Kageyama would shed fried feathers as a constant reminder for the next two days, they'd slip back into some semblance of normal.

But that wasn't what had happened today.

The arguments would usually be preceded by passive aggressive remarks that escalated into full blown confrontation, but Hinata had taken a different approach this time. Since he hated when Kageyama yelled at him but couldn't bring himself to back down, his solution had been to _not_ tell him he was going into Sheru Bay until they were leaving.

It had gone about as well as could be expected, the crow setter having been blindsided.

The argument itself had been shorter, but the words had been sharper, and even those of them who didn't know the nuances and hidden meanings behind every insult could still feel the markedly heavier weight they were hurled with. Hinata had still gone into town, his face a little more pale than usual, and still been livid when he'd returned a few hours later.

The two haven't spoken all afternoon, but Kageyama has spent much of it propped up against a wall in the front room with a blank stare in what would appear to be the sulk of the century. Morisuke knows he dry heaved for an hour after they'd left, though, and he can see the dilation in his eyes that belies the fierce fever that has yet to break, and knows that this fight… was a bad one.

Kageyama is going to lose _a lot_ of feathers this time around. They'd already been jarring the fluidity of their uncanny connection in Volley matches; he wonders how today's argument will affect their demeanor.

The uneven distribution of breaking symptoms, though...that's really bugging the russet cat and he settles beside Noya, determined to see if he can't riddle it out. The best way to start, he supposes, is to collect as much information about the pair as he can, and what better person to ask than the crow Hinata had grown up with?

"Hey, winged libero god." He says lightly. Noya's eyes are almost the same color as his, but they convey a mild annoyance when they slide his way.

"Hey, short cat." He grumbles, and while it isn't a rebuff, it betrays his mood— and sparks a thread of irritation.

"You're shorter than I am." Morisuke mutters with a scowl.

"Yeah but Lev never says anything about _my_ height."

"That blasted cat can eat sand."

"He already does anytime he's in back line." Noya says, a grin finally tugging at his mouth.

Morisuke shakes his head to clear it of his momentary vexation at the mention of the grey cat's incessant remarks on his height. The short crow seems a little more amenable so he should get answers now.

"Yeah… hey, can I ask you a question?"

"I can't teach you how to fly. No matter how big your dreams, you should give up on that one." Morisuke huffs through his nose in amusement.

"Actually, I was curious about the friction between Hinata and Kageyama. I know they supposedly have a high profile but I can't see _Sheru_ _Bay_ being a threat. Why can't Kageyama just go into town with him? It would save everyone a lot of… _this._ "

There's a flash of annoyance again when Noya turns a bland look on him. He watches him for a long moment before looking away with a drawn out sigh.

"I forget that you haven't been around that long. I suppose no one ever really told you much about how we wound up here."

"Not really."

"Heh. Well, let me ask _you_ something. Did you remember hearing anything about the rookery and its leadership during your stint on that boat last year?"

"The rookery? There was something about some prince going missing I think… was there something else I missed?" Morisuke asks with a thoughtful frown.

"Nope, that would be it. What do you remember about it?"

"Not much. The kid who was supposed to take over up and disappeared. Wait… you guys didn't off him or something, did you?" Noya snorts.

"Nah. That kid's still very much alive no matter how many people he pisses off. He was part of the rookery's 'first unit', their best trained combat group. Early last summer, he and the unit's top scout were attacked. The heir came through fine, but the redheaded scout ended up grounded."

 _Redheaded. Grounded._

Morisuke's eyes blow wide as everything aligns.

" _Hinata._ " He breathes and Noya nods.

"Bingo."

The russet cat drags in a half suffocating breath, feeling like he's been winded. The revelation is enough to render him speechless and the one that follows on its heels leaves him plainly put— stupefied.

"Then… Kageyama…" He manages and the crow tosses him a sidelong smirk.

"I get the feeling you understand now."

He did. Oh, he _did_. He's been with these guys for the last three months and all this time, he's been dining, bunking, playing, and _living_ with the rookery prince. The heir to the leadership that every sentry on the continent has been looking for.

"We honestly thought you knew. You made that comment about royalty that first day and I can't tell you how many people you put on edge." Noya says, his grin getting bigger. Morisuke runs a hand through his hair, still reeling.

"Damn. My boat put out just last month after a stopover. I should have been on it." He murmurs wryly, lamenting the death of his blissful ignorance, and Noya laughs.

"In over your head on this one, eh cat?"

"I feel like I just plunged into an abyss. Or sailed into a typhoon with sails at full mast." He murmurs.

"Don't worry, Daichi and Suga, Tanaka, Asahi, and me— we're the rest of that first unit, and we felt the same at first. It was just a matter of working out a routine. But to answer your original question… the less public exposure Kageyama has, the safer we _all_ will be. The residents of Sheru Bay might be happily unaware of who he is, but all it takes is one person to see the light and we will have to find a new place. Kageyama just gets irrationally worked up over all of it. He can _totally_ take things way too far."

Morisuke blinks at the tone of the crow's last remark.

"Do I detect a hint of animosity from a fellow libero?" He asks, his head canting to the side. Noya looks away, his grin disintegrating into a scowl.

"It's just frustration. Kageyama is… all wrong for Shouyou." Morisuke watches him closely, his hunch confirmed.

"You sure it wouldn't matter _who_ it was?" He asks pointedly and the crow's brown eyes snap up to him with offence, his mouth opening before he freezes. The russet cat can see him considering that as his eyes drop once more.

"Maybe not. It just sucks. I'm his brother… and I feel like there's nothing I can do for him."

"You feel replaced." He says and the short crow's brow furrows.

"Not 'replaced'... more like not needed."

"You're wrong. He might have Kageyama, but Kageyama can never be his brother. He's still going to come to you when he has questions, still going to participate in your pranks, still going to seek your advice and confide his secrets, but you can't help him to the best of your ability if you think like that. Besides, he's freaky sharp. I'm sure he's noticed your reservations already and it probably only adds to his stress."

"Right. He can't see past the arrogant ass that's his leveler."

"Wrong again. I hadn't been here two days and he'd come up and asked me where _my_ leveler was." Noya glances at him, his expression fogging with confusion.

"What?" He asks, completely baffled. Morisuke smiles slightly, one finger pointing toward his ears.

"Remember how the white tipping on Kageyama's wings means Hinata almost kicked it?" Noya's eyes focus on his ears for a long moment before his brows rise in surprise.

"Your ears… they're..." The small crow trails away and Morisuke smiles slightly.

"Tipped white, yes. The shrimp made that intuitive leap and surprised the crap out of me. He can be oblivious, but there's plenty he doesn't miss." Noya blinks at him.

"So… where is your leveler?"

The russet cat looks away, a twinge of sorrow hitting his gut. He should have known this question was coming.

"Cats are… a little different. We can form sort of… 'half bonds' so to speak. We get the white tipping one of two ways. The first is like Kageyama's with Hinata. Our fully bonded leveler almost dies. The second… is if a 'half bonded' leveler _does_ die. We survive it, but it tips our ears just the same." He says quietly, finding Noya's shocked gaze.

"Your… you had a 'half bond' thing and your leveler died?"

"I did. The leveler link is strange in that it can't spur or nurture a relationship on its own… but it can be dangerous and even lethal. I escaped a death tie once because my leveler connection was half as strong as the one between Kageyama and Hinata; they won't have such a safety net. The reason levelers die together is because the link between them goes deeper than the bonds of family or friendship.

"Levelers are tied at the soul and will forever be drawn together, and I can promise you that Kageyama will walk through fire for Hinata if he has to. He's already abandoned a whole future to see him safe; it shouldn't be hard to imagine him going any distance required of him. His white tipped wings are proof. That frosted look isn't _just_ an indication that Hinata almost died. It means that he probably would have if his leveler hadn't been there. That link can save you just as well as kill you." Noya watches him with wide eyes.

"Shouyou's alive because of Kageyama?" Yaku nods and the short crow looks away.

"No way, this is Kageyama. He's always salty and Shouyou's the complete opposite… and he's the only one who can make that kid wilt like leaves after a frost." He mutters.

"Perhaps, but Hinata isn't blameless either. He has done worse to Kageyama and the crow simply bears it."

"Shouyou has… what the heck are you talking about?" He says with a dark frown.

"You can't have missed Kageyama's scraggly molts after their fights. Losing those feathers is a delayed side effect that is excruciatingly painful because they are husked from the inside out by the 'breaking' toxins that are released when they go against each other. You accompany Hinata into town a lot, so you aren't usually around when it happens, but Kageyama gets brutally sick in the hours following their arguments. He vomits, his whole body slicks with fevered sweat, his limbs shake and he's nearly collapsed the last two times, but he holds everything together as best he can until Hinata's gone so the redhead doesn't see it. I think he's still failing pretty obviously to hide it because he looks like a grim reaper by the time it subsides, but for whatever reason, Hinata completely misses it— sharp eyes be damned." Noya blinks at him, stunned, and Morisuke glances down at the ground.

"I wouldn't look at it like Hinata no longer needs you. I would view it as having gained _another_ brother and they _both_ need you, because they are foolishly pushing that link to its breaking point. You and your leveler are a great example to follow."

There's an awkward silence and the russet cat glances back at the crow beside him only to be met with a blank look.

"My… what?"

Morisuke blinks, feeling like he just stepped on a pitfall.

"Your… eh, never mind that," he backpedals, "just—"

"Did you say _my_ leveler?" Noya asks, incredulity rife in his face and voice.

 _Oh, boy. Now he'd done it._

He glances away in resignation of the coming disaster.

"I… yeah. I thought—"

"Who is it?" Noya asks, unconsciously leaning forward and the russet cat leans back. The crow looks like he just received one of Bokuto's or Lev's incredible hits and sent it perfectly to the setter, his excitement is almost tangible.

"I've already said too much." He says shoving the crow back, but Noya is undeterred.

"Come on, you let it slip so at least give me a hint." He cajoles, his mocha eyes bright. A slow smile curls his mouth as he gets up.

"Fine. You know who they are." He says, turning to leave.

"That's not a hint at all! If I went off that, even _you_ could be my leveler."

"I'll give you another hint then. It's not me." He says with a grin, waving off the crow's protests as he slips away.

While he's learned some _fascinating_ things about them, he didn't really get the chance to brainstorm through the disproportionate 'breaking' effects on Hinata and Kageyama. Noya's focus is totally shot now, and Morisuke will be fending off bids for leveler hints the entire next week, he's sure, so asking now would be pointless.

Still, with the way Hinata was pale today after their fight, the cat concludes that he's obviously not _immune_ to the effects of a 'breaking' episode— but he's definitely not feeling the brunt of it like his leveler. Morisuke frowns.

If this happens again, he won't be staying on the sidelines, because if Hinata can't feel it, he won't know when to stop… which means he won't realize when he's toeing the line between 'dangerous' and 'lethal'.

A/N: Yay, Yaku chapter! And Noya bonus! And a level pair who can't figure their shit out- here have a dose of totally unsubtle foreshadowing... -_-

Honestly... My SO and I are legit like Daichi & Suga; we've never fought and talk out everything long before it hits that point- and we've been together 9 years, so it's not like we're still in the 'getting to know each other' phase. Wow, that makes me feel old somehow... I hope you are all bad at math, lol

Woot! 2017! So Nyx's new year's resolution was to be a better author and try to respond to all you guys' comments. I apologize if I don't hit them all but I promise to try :) Have a great night guys!


	10. Year One,30 1-3 Mortal Contention

**YEAR ONE.30 1/3 Mortal Contention**

I think that everyone has a choice in every difficult situation. The thing about anger is that it invades your thoughts in such a way that you forget you have those choices and your emotions take control. ~Jim Medlock

~One Month Later; Summer's End~

 **Koushi Sugawara** hands a glass of water to Daichi where he sits beside the Volley net, sweat coating his brow.

"How's it going?" He asks with a grin and his leveler glances up at him.

"Excellent. Thank you, my beautiful silver star." He murmurs softly, his hand brushing across Koushi's fingers a little too long. The thrush's face heats and he knows he's blushing.

"Daichi, you're being embarrassing." He murmurs, but his mouth tugs in a sheepish smile all the same.

"How else am I supposed to get you to look like that?" The crow says with a smirk and Koushi's eyes widen. If he wasn't blazing red before, he is now.

" _Daichi._ " He scolds. Daichi reaches for him and he ducks away with a laugh.

And then he stumbles at the sharp bark from Kageyama, and the thrush wants to both cringe and sigh. The two have been taking passive-aggressive shots at each other for over a month… since the last time they'd brought Hinata into Sheru Bay, to be precise. And they had planned another trip with the redhead today, but it sounds like Hinata has taken the same approach as last time and opted not to say anything until they are basically ready to go.

Koushi gets why the redhead has stooped to keeping his plans from the other setter until the last minute, but it makes him anxious with dread because Kageyama doesn't _do_ surprises— unpleasant ones even less so.

For the first months after they'd joined the beach crew a year ago, things had been fine between the two in the wake of their leveler 'enlightenment'. But Hinata had slowly been losing his mind by the following spring, and that's when things had begun to unravel. With Kageyama stuck at the beach house while Hinata mitigated his sanity with human interaction, a tension had returned between them that had only built. By that third trip with the redhead, they were blatantly arguing over it which had done nothing but escalate over the next six months.

As the thrush hears the rise of Hinata's musical voice until it competes with Kageyama's, he laments at where they've come. It truly breaks his heart to see them fight; they are members of his unit and his friends— his family at this point.

But he and Daichi have never had this kind of problem and he has no idea what to do about it. He's tried reasoning with both Hinata and Kageyama to get them to mellow and has apparently hit a brick wall in both directions, because they are at it as hard today as they were last time— maybe more. And it's accelerating down that horrible spiral much faster this time.

"I can't stay here all the time, Kageyama! It's like going around a circular room searching for a corner." Hinata finally snaps at the setter, his patience gone and that heavy voice that betrays his fury lashes out at Kageyama.

Koushi sucks in a breath and turns to stare at them. He can't remember a time where the redhead has turned that tone against the black-haired setter, no matter how insufferable he could be. Daichi had told him that it _did_ occasionally happen growing up, but it was quite uncommon. Apparently, it's as rare as he thinks it must be, given the way Kageyama stares back at the redhead. Finally, the crow setter's face smooths out.

"Then go. And maybe don't back, because I can't do this every time you want to take a field trip." He says flatly, his voice sounding horribly dead, and Hinata's face goes slack, as if the words were a capital sentence.

Before Koushi can even process the enormity of Kageyama's brittle remark, Noya is brushing by him, headed in their direction. It's odd, he thinks, because the shortest crow has been probably the least inclined to interfere in the past.

"Oi!" He barks at them, but neither even notice him. Instead, Hinata's face pulls down into a glare.

"Maybe I will." He says spitefully, but it doesn't seem to rattle the taller setter who readily fires back a retort.

"Good. While you're at it, try not to die. You hold the other end of my rope, so if you buy it, I'm done, too." The redhead steps backward almost as if the setter took a swing at him.

"Kageyama…" He says, his leaded voice wavering.

"Oi! You two brats—"

"This is what you want, isn't it? Freedom? It's yours. _Go_ Hinata _._ " Kageyama cuts the smallest crow off as he reaches them.

Noya hauls the redhead backward in an effort to put distance between the two, but neither falter in their face off.

"You're really being an ass." Hinata spits instead, his face furrowing with a massive frown. Hinata rarely swears let alone at his leveler, and Koushi knows he's really starting to lose all rationale.

"And you aren't listening, you freaking shrimp. _Leave_."

Noya freezes along with the rest of the Karasuno group. He turns to stare up at Kageyama beside a once more slack-jawed Hinata. Everyone outside has gone still. Lev, Kuroo, Tsukishima, Yamguchi, and the owls pause at the net while Tanaka and Asahi exchange a glance from where they are collecting items for trade, and Daichi finds Koushi's wrist in a crushing grip.

Even if the significance of the setter's barb is lost on the guys by the net, he and the other Karasuno unit members catch it. The Grand King was the first to call Hinata ' _shrimp_ '. Plenty of others had regularly called him that, but never Kageyama. Coming from anyone else, it would simply be a word… but coming from the raven-haired setter, it's an epithet.

"That was un _-fucking-_ called for!" Tanaka says and is quickly following the path Noya had cut across the beach to where he still has a hold on Hinata. The thrush jumps as the door slams open and Yaku bursts out, his expression narrowed with anger.

"Stop them." He barks, leaping down off the porch, his feet never touching any of the steps. Daichi beside him starts moving at the cat's command, but they are too late to stop the redhead's watery remark.

"Fine, be an egotistical tyrant king." Kageyama's gaze narrows and he takes a step forward.

" _Go."_ The taller boy growls out.

"Dammit, stop them!" Yaku snaps, throwing his arms around Kageyama's waist and attempting to haul him backward. Tanaka joins Noya in pulling Hinata away while Daichi plants a hand against the crow setter's chest. Kuroo materializes out of nowhere and grabs Kageyama's shoulder. The setter allows himself to be forced backward, but Hinata rails at the hands holding him.

"Kageyama, you're such an idiot!" He bites out in a fractured voice.

"Get him out of here or we'll be burying them!" Yaku snarls at Noya and Tanaka who jump at his sharp command. Daichi finally finds his voice.

"Go. We'll cool Kageyama down." He says and Noya and Tanaka pick the redhead up entirely and haul him away.

Asahi and Lev join them when they finally put Hinata down and steer him toward town. Kageyama's gaze remains on them until they are out of sight, his cobalt eyes hollow while Koushi is frozen where he stands. Somewhere along the line, the girls and Kenma have come out to see what the commotion was and watch with wide eyes. Yamaguchi, Tsukishima and the owls all stare in tense silence, and all Koushi can process is horror.

 _Get him out of here or we'll be burying them!_

Yaku's words ring in his ears as Kuroo and the russet cat slowly release the black-haired setter who simply stares at the bend in the beach where his leveler and the others disappeared.

Koushi's seen it before; any minute now, Kageyama's body will revolt on him and he will be emptying his stomach of this morning's breakfast. Daichi knows what's coming, too, and places a hand on his shoulder to steer him back toward the house. The setter looks at it before roughly shaking him off.

"Get off me." He mutters coldly before staggering toward the porch under his own power.

Koushi can see the sweat already coating his face as he wavers on his feet. Kuroo shadows him and Yachi tentatively reaches out to him before withdrawing her hand as he struggles up the steps, his eyes glazed.

A low whistle over his shoulder catches his attention and he turns to see Bokuto and Akaashi, their eyes enormous.

"That was crazy." The streaked owl says in a low voice.

"No, that was dangerous." Yaku mutters as Kageyama disappears inside.

"He took it too far this time." Daichi murmurs after the avian prince, but the russet cat shakes his head at him.

"Wrong. He was trying to stop that disaster by getting Hinata to leave."

"Eh?" Bokuto asks with confusion.

"Stop a fight in the middle and yeah, they both still stew with anger, but they don't have the chance to do more damage by loosing more of those destructive words. Kageyama was trying to control it— admittedly probably poorly— but he was trying to stop it."

Kuroo's hand finds its way to the back of his neck and he looks up at the sky with a brooding expression.

"This is getting worse. I'd have thought we'd be facing dangers from outside like that sentry a few months back, but our biggest threat is coming from within."

"Do you have any ideas for fixing it?" Daichi asks, his face looking tired. Kuroo shakes his head.

"I don't really—"

"Yaku!" Yachi squeals, her head poking out the door with a stricken expression and everyone looks at her. "Yaku, Kageyama's down!"

For the second time, Koushi feels like his feet root into place as he runs through the possibilities that could mean while trying to avoid the most likely of them. Yaku curses under his breath and zips up the steps. Daichi takes his arm and it's only after the other crow touches him that he can move again, and he joins the others as they all crowd into the house after the girls and Yaku.

Kageyama's crumpled form is sprawled across the floor, vomit pooled around his face as Yaku and Yachi kneel beside him.

"What do I do?" She asks frantically.

"He's just unconscious… no, don't roll him backward, keep him on his side." He instructs as Shimizu comes in with a rag and starts to wipe away his stomach's expulsion.

"If he throws up again, you don't want him to choke." He murmurs as he peels back an eyelid. Koushi shivers at the black stare in the middle of the cobalt iris.

"Damn, dilated eyes. His body's trying to detox."

"What do we do for him?" Yachi asks again and the cat huffs.

"This is _breaking._ It's the chemical reaction that levelers experience when they fight. The body releases a toxin that makes them physically sick and scalds the feathers. There's no antidote and it's not something you can just fix. He'll have to ride it out. About the only thing we _can_ do is make sure he's comfortable and monitor him. If you believe in the gods, pray he'll be fine." He says with a dark frown. Kuroo and Bokuto move to pick him up while Akaashi pulls out a blanket to lay him on. Yaku looks up at Shimizu.

"Can we get a cool wet rag? He's still burning with fever. We'll probably need a light blanket, too, because he'll be flipping between sweating and chills."

"Ah! He's heaving again!" Yachi squeaks, attempting to catch any mess with a towel, but it's not nearly as much this time as his stomach is already empty. Yaku nods with a morose frown.

"Expect it off and on every half hour, give or take for a while." Another four or five contractions of Kageyama's gut and he goes still. And then his muscles start shaking, waves of shivers running the length of his spine and into his limbs.

"What's wrong with him?" Bokuto asks.

"Toxic shock. The muscles go weak and his body will chill after vomiting, so they shake. Another fifteen minutes and he'll be sweating as his body gears up for another round of heaving."

The door slams open and Noya pushes in.

"Shouyou's…" He pulls up short as everyone huddled around Kageyama turns to stare at him. The short crow's gaze drops to the unconscious setter.

"What—"

"Shouyou's what, Noya?" Yaku asks firmly. The crow's mocha eyes snap back to him.

"We got maybe halfway to Sheru Bay when he threw up, and he's really dizzy. He can't walk a straight line and Asahi's carrying him back right now."

"Perfect." He murmurs cynically. "Bring him inside when they get here. He could use the wakeup call, too."

Noya's eyes are still wide as he disappears back outside and in moments Asahi is following him back in cradling a pale redhead. His almond eyes lock onto his shivering leveler as the large crow deposits him on his shaky feet, the pupils dilating until Koushi can barely see the warm brown around them.

"Kageyama?" He whispers and stumbles forward two steps. "What happened to him?"

"You did." Yaku mutters with a touch of anger. Hinata shakes his head, his lower lip trembling.

"I… I'd never do something like this." Yaku eyes him incredulously.

"Did you think the 'breaking' thing was a myth? He's been getting sick after every fight and yet you repeat the process each time. You finally managed to render him unconscious. Pray he survives, because if he goes, so do you." Hinata's eyes blow wide.

"Kageyama's going to die?" He whispers.

"Hard to say... but I haven't seen many people come back from this level of toxicity. You'd best hope he wants to live; it might be the only thing that saves him because your leveler link won't help you this time. The 'binding' property can't fix leveler inflicted injuries." Hinata's jaw drops and his orange head shakes once. He backs up a step and shakes his head again.

"Kageyama…" He whimpers before he turns and stumbles back outside, his eyes glossing with tears. Noya moves to follow but Yaku shakes his head as Tanaka walks back in with a raised eyebrow.

"Let him be. He needs to realize how serious this is. He won't go far."

"There's something off. Why isn't Hinata affected?" Tsukishima says from beside the door and Koushi looks toward the russet cat, having wondered that himself.

"He is. He just threw up, too, but it's nothing like this. I've been trying to wrap my head around it and puzzle it out, but I don't have an answer, yet. I thought it might be something to do with being different species, but—"

"Wait, what?" Noya stops him. "Different species? What are you talking about?" Yaku blinks blandly at him.

"Hinata isn't a crow. His hair and voice are indicative of that."

"That's ridiculous. He's my brother. He is a crow." Noya says with a frown and Yaku points at Kageyama.

" _He's_ a crow, but the redhead isn't. He might be your 'brother' for all practical purposes, but he doesn't share your blood. I think someone said he spoke another language when he came to the rookery, too?" Yaku asks glancing around for verification and Tanaka nods.

"He couldn't speak a word of ours at first."

"That's another good indicator. See crows have a unique speech pattern...it doesn't matter where you go, you will still be able to grasp what another crow is trying to say. The dialect and accent may make it difficult, but you can always generally get the gist of it even if you are on the other side of the world. The fact that your languages were completely separate means he didn't start out around crows."

"His wings were black, though." Asahi murmurs helplessly.

"Plenty of others have black wings. Ravens, stilts, certain flycatchers, and cormorants all have black wings. But his hair makes me think he's more a songbird, the foreign language, something exotic. I'd thought that could have something to do with it and Kageyama was somehow shouldering the majority of the effects, but…" The russet cat finds Koushi and he straightens. "You and Daichi aren't the same species either. Does the breaking thing affect you differently?"

Koushi meets his leveler's gaze. They've never had a fight like this; they wouldn't be able to offer a credible example.

"It doesn't." Daichi says to his surprise. "We had a minor argument early on that still affected us both. Suga wasn't exempt." One of Koushi's silver brows arches. That could hardly have been called an _argument_ even if he still remembers how crappy he'd felt...

"Didn't think so. And Hinata glows every night, so there's no question that they _are_ levelers..." The cat trails away in thought.

"What about the wings?" Kenma says softly drawing everyone's attention.

"What?"

"The difference between them as a level pair and say Daichi and Suga or Bokuto and Akaashi is that one of them is grounded. Shouyou doesn't have wings, and he doesn't feel the full force of 'breaking'. Maybe it's something to do with that?"

"I get it." Kuroo breaks in. "The toxin releases from glands in a cat's ears. Do you guys know where it releases from for avians?" Kuroo asks, glancing up at them but it's Tsukishima who answers with a flat expression.

"The feathers. Your princeling loses the burned-out feathers because they're ground zero of the toxin release point and get hit the hardest. Hinata doesn't have wings, just the few feathers around the base, so he doesn't have the glands that release it." Yaku eyes him with newfound respect.

"You're probably right."

"Is Kageyama really in danger?" Asahi asks quietly, breaking the brainstorm session.

"I'm not sure, but he'll probably pull through okay."

"But you said you haven't seen many people come out of this." Tanaka says with a scowl.

"That's because I haven't seen many people take it this far. But since Hinata escapes the physical effects of what this can do, the best way to make sure it doesn't happen again is to give him a memory he won't want to repeat. Real, gut-wrenching fear is one of the most effective tools for that. If he's legitimately terrified he might lose Kageyama, he will be that much more cautious in the future because he will remember this moment."

"That's a little harsh." Noya says with a frown.

"The alternative might be a double funeral." The cat mutters with a dark glance at the small crow. Koushi gets it… tough love in this case might save both their lives.

"I wish we had more information on all this. None of our parents ever told us anything beyond the stories as kids." Daichi says with a frown.

"They probably didn't know much more than that themselves." Yaku says mildly, taking the rag Shimizu holds out for him and runs it across the already beading skin of Kageyama's forehead as the female crow sets a bowl of water beside him and Noya edges closer.

"It's entirely possible to build an unbreakable bond with someone who isn't your leveler. Avians achieve this all the time given how many of them never find theirs. But therein lies the danger of knowing your leveler, and level pairs frequently take that tether for granted—for more than it is, never considering its true nature." Koushi's brow furrows in puzzlement.

"What do you mean?" He asks and Yaku glances at him briefly before wiping the rag across Kageyama's burning skin.

"Most people don't realize that the leveler connection is essentially an indicator, nothing more. It's like when you build a fire. The leveler link is the match that ignites the flames, but those flames will go out without more wood being added. A level pair will all too often rely solely on that connection as the foundation of their relationship, and they don't realize that it's like any other and requires _work_ to sustain. There must be communication, empathy with the other half, the desire to understand each other without resentment, and the will to make it all happen. The leveler link provides the spark, but they must put in the effort to keep it going themselves. When they fail to do so, this is what happens." He says with a pointed look at the unconscious avian. "The difference for level pairs is that they can't weather fights like this without repercussion like anyone else… as I'm sure you can see."

"How do you know all this? I mean, you're a cat but you know about avians, too." Akaashi says, and Yaku shrugs.

"I've met my fair share of feline level pairs, but I also spent a decade as the reluctant 'guest' of an eccentric group of avians after I survived the boat I was on running aground on an atoll. They'd maintained a constant almost unnoticeable cut on the undersides of their wings until they found their leveler. They had a tendency toward sleep piles like you guys, so when someone started glowing, they'd figure out who they were linked to through the 'binding' effect. Very few ended up with someone who wasn't their leveler, and most of my avian knowledge comes from them."

"You're sure he's going to come through?" Kuroo asks heavily.

"Not one-hundred percent, but probably about seventy-five. I don't have much to go on here experience-wise; the avians I stayed with were good at mitigating arguments— sometimes several people would get involved to prevent something like this, so I rarely saw anything this crazy. If he makes it to tomorrow morning, I'll be a lot more comfortable in giving you a 'yes'."

Koushi swallows.

Odds are in their favor then, strictly speaking, but in the thrush's opinion, they aren't _good_ odds. There's a one in four chance that Kageyama dies— and if he goes, so does Hinata. According to Yaku, there's a twenty-five percent likelihood that they will be burying two members in the morning. Never mind the ramifications this will have with the rookery if the avian prince dies, he doubts any of them can stomach that loss.

And his entire being trembles, because if they survive, it's a certainty that _it will happen again._ Hinata _needs_ people and Kageyama _can't_ risk exposure. They will always be stuck being forced to separate to preserve the redhead's sanity and for whatever reason, it's something Kageyama can't deal with. Koushi knows them too well; even if this incident leaves a lasting impression on them, they will still butt heads and argue again eventually. If they don't want a repeat, something has to change. There has to be an alternative to a road that will only lead them full circle and right back here.

Koushi's mind finally kicks into gear again after feeling like he's been under water since the first words of the younger level pair's confrontation had frozen his thoughts earlier. As Kageyama begins another round of heaving, Koushi's eyes narrow.

They have to find another way.

A/N: And so begins the slow torture of my characters. Nyx should not be allowed to write stories.

This was one of the very first ones I completed for Horizon; it's still pretty close to the original rough I wrote with very little change. I'm sure you all probably saw this coming; the plot device was pretty blatant. And now you have an answer as to how Yaku knows so much about avian levelers/levelers in general.

I hope this was interesting... I've been over it enough times that my mind is pretty fried, which means the full effect and emotion of the chapter has become a bit lost on me. I've been 'too close' to the story too long, so I can't tell if it is still legitimately intriguing. Eh. Have a spectacular evening you guys!


	11. Year One,30 2-3 Contrition & Dolor

Love is the strongest emotion any creature can feel except for hate, but hate can't hurt you. Love, and trust, and friendship, and all the other emotions humans value so much, are the only emotions that can bring pain. Only love can break a heart into so many pieces. ~Amelia Atwater Rhodes

 **Shouyou Hinata** curls tighter in a ball against the wall on the porch when the door opens next to him, the backs of his eyelids pressing harder into his knees. His heart is ticking an unsteady rhythm and his head hurts and his stomach still feels volatile, but he barely notices any of it.

 _What happened to him?_

 _You did._

Yaku's accusatory reply had set him back, his mind automatically rebelling. But no matter how crappy his stomach felt, his eyes were sharp as ever… and Kageyama had been totally unresponsive. He'd been placed on a blanket on his side, half curled into a fetal position that could have almost made Shouyou think he was just asleep. But his chest had risen and fallen in short rapid breaths, his skin a sickly grey and covered in a thin sheen of sweat even as all of his muscles spasmed in shivers.

It had been the most unnerving thing, seeing the cobalt eyes cracked open just a touch yet completely unfocused and sightless while his body shook. Even as he'd watched, Akaashi had pulled out a blanket to drop over him while Bokuto had neatly folded his large wings around him. It had hammered it home that Kageyama was wholly and truly _unconscious_. Kageyama wasn't usually big on physical touch unless it was at night in the middle of a sleep pile— or if it was from Shouyou himself. The fact that there had been no reaction to being handled and carefully positioned… was terrifying.

 _You'd best hope he wants to live; it might be the only thing that saves him because your leveler link won't help you this time. The 'binding' property can't fix leveler inflicted injuries._

Shouyou drags a breath into lungs that are painfully constricted, the air catching on his raw throat. It doesn't matter how tight he squeezes his eyes shut, he can't unsee the image of his leveler lying comatose and surrounded by concerned faces, can't stop the tears from slipping out.

 _He's been getting sick after every fight and yet you repeat the process each time._

Had he really been going through this every time they'd argued? He knew Kageyama would lose feathers after these confrontations and would be a little pale and crash out earlier the night following, but… he'd assumed the taller boy was still just livid. Had he really been this blind?

Shouyou'd been angry… but he'd never wanted this. He'd been frustrated with Kageyama's lack of sympathy and understanding; he'd never intended for this to happen. Shouyou curls even further into himself, his entire being whimpering as his heart squeezes in his chest. He's pretty sure it's actually shattered because he can feel nothing but stifling terror and crippling sorrow.

It's a different feeling than when he'd been determined to give Kageyama up in the immediate wake of his grounding—knowing he'd be banned from the rookery, he'd been prepared to let the other boy go. He'd been ready to forfeit his place at the avian heir's side and his spot in their unit to see that through. He'd been ready to do whatever it took to keep Kageyama safe and ensure that he had nothing but the best chance to succeed—even if it removed himself from the picture. He'd been _ready_ to lose the person he cared about most even if he hadn't been able to envision life without him.

Now… there's a well of anguish that is so much more painful. The knowledge that his leveler's state is _his fault_ feeds a building self-loathing and the very real fear that Kageyama might die. It's the last thing he wants. Kageyama had saved him from an infinitely lonely future when he'd walked away from the rookery leadership, had reinforced through action that he'd chosen Shouyou over everyone and everything else.

If he could, he'd take it all back. If it meant Kageyama'd be okay, he'd erase this whole day and start over, just stay home with him, and never even bring up Sheru Bay. All Shouyou wants is to rewind back to this morning when his leveler's eyes hadn't been vacant and staring, when they'd struck that easy tempo of ribbing remarks over breakfast, everything normal. He wants to go back to _before_ he'd messed up so badly.

But he can't take back the words now, can't change what's happened.

 _I haven't seen many people come back from this level of toxicity._

Shouyou scrunches his hands over his ears as a sob chokes his throat.

Kageyama _can't_ die. He's the freaking heir to the Karasuno rookery, for feathers' sake. He's the most incredible person Shouyou's ever met, exceptional at anything he sets his mind to. He can be stubborn and asinine on occasion, but beneath his callous exterior lies a full emotional scope, the depth of which is staggering. Kageyama is capable of great compassion in his own reserved way, just as he's capable of unyielding violence when something he cares about is threatened. Kageyama had _chosen him_.

 _Kageyama, you're my world._

Shouyou hadn't lied when he'd said it. His whole existence began and ended with the black-haired setter, all of his thoughts and actions subconsciously revolving around the other boy. When he'd learned they were levelers, he hadn't thought anything could have made his life better. He'd been wrong. The fact that Kageyama had been content with it as well— perhaps happy even— had put him into an almost permanent state of euphoria.

And now? Kageyama lies unconscious on the other side of the wall behind him and might never wake up. The one perfect person who matters most to him… might die. What had he done?

A gentle hand on his shoulder makes him flinch away, another gasping sob escaping him. He wants to tell whoever it is to leave him alone, but his lungs can't push the air through his vocal chords and his mouth can't form the words. Someone who endangers their leveler like this doesn't deserve sympathy or pity or comfort or whatever that soft touch intends to convey. Someone who could _kill_ their leveler deserves nothing but contempt.

But the hands don't go away. Instead, someone settles heavily beside him and wraps him in a full embrace, dragging him forward against a warm chest. And for an instant Shouyou is _furious_.

Kageyama might not survive the night; the person responsible for that should be shunned and punished, not consoled. His breath comes in shaky gasps when he pushes at the arms around him, but their grasp is iron and in a moment, he's struggling frantically. No one should be kind to him… not ever, not after this.

 _Don't do this. Not for me. Not me._

But the arms around him only tighten. And a moment later, a smaller pair circle his gut, a tiny body pressing into his back, and like a dam beneath a swollen lake breaking, he gives. Shouyou goes limp, whimpering sobs wrenching painfully from his chest. His hands fist into the shirt his face is planted into and his mouth forms words without his conscious permission.

" _I'm sorry._ " He says, his voice completely broken under the onslaught of emotion still racking him in waves. " _I'm sorry… Sorry."_ He repeats.

Again and again he apologizes, the word uttered over and over with desperation, the need to make sure they know he never meant for any of this to happen overpowering. The soft touch of a cheek dropping on his head is coupled with one arm releasing him to rest a hand next to it in a tender action that conveys both love and support, and his chest constricts even more.

"It's okay, Hinata." A tiny voice says at his back and he recognizes Yachi.

"It's not entirely your fault." Suga's voice vibrates quietly into his hair and he finally knows whose chest he's desecrating. Another sob catches in his throat. "You both had equal parts in this."

"But I'm fine and he's…"

"He's suffering, but he's still alive." The thrush says softly, not denying that the other boy is in less than perfect condition.

"Is he going to be alright?"

"His body is still working through the effects… but he's hanging on at the moment." It's not the confirmation Shouyou wishes it was.

"I screwed up, Suga. I destroyed everything." He croaks but it isn't Suga that answers.

"Hinata… You both said a lot of horrible things, but I don't think either of you meant even half of them. You can get on each other's nerves but you guys _live_ for each other. Everything will be okay." Yachi says softly.

Shouyou can't quite bring himself to believe her.

When Shouyou finally steps back inside as the sun starts dropping in the sky, it's after most everyone else has gone back _out_ , the nervous tension over the way Kageyama hasn't woken yet after the massive scene they'd made earlier making them antsy. Whether they bounce a ball around mechanically at the net, or disappear to gather late summer greens for dinner, or blankly work on fletching arrows for hunting, they are all quiet and brooding. The only ones left inside are Daichi and Kiyoko. They barely spare him a glance and Suga squeezes his shoulder softly before retreating back outside.

He probably wouldn't have set foot in this room even if everywhere else were on fire if it hadn't been at Noya's relentless insistence. If it had been left up to him, he'd have stayed out on the porch until his leveler had woken and even then, he'd have remained until Kageyama'd bid him come back inside. Maybe not even then; he felt like he had no right to such an amenity as a 'home'. But the smaller crow had declared that he should be beside his leveler and refused to let it go, so the redhead had very reluctantly allowed himself to be shuffled back inside. Looking at the pitiful sight Kageyama still makes, he already regrets it.

Yachi's small hands latch onto his arm and pull him forward.

"How is he doing?" She asks quietly and Kiyoko looks up.

"He hasn't heaved again for the last hour so we might be through that part… but his pulse is still up and the fever is still going."

Shouyou doesn't want to get any closer, doesn't want to touch his leveler, but the bunting hasn't released him yet. Yachi takes the rag from Kiyoko and sets it into his hands where he blinks down at it. Kiyoko rises, and Yachi has him take her place beside the unconscious crow, far too close for comfort.

And for the first time since he came in, he _looks_ at Kageyama.

He's covered from the waist down in a light blanket, and his body has ceased it's shivering at the moment, but he's still ashen, his chest rising and falling too quickly. His eyes are still cracked open, but he can't see their staring pupils this time, just a sliver of unfocused blue. His arm and shoulder muscles look too slack, unnatural in the absence of all tension in them, and his hair sticks to the skin around his face and neck, matted with perspiration.

But it's his wings that lock up Shouyou's muscles.

The large and beautiful black wings that drape around him… are _wilting_. Feathers scattered all across the one close enough that Shouyou could reach out and touch it are curling, their fibers crimping along the shafts. Covert feathers, primaries, secondaries— it doesn't matter, they are all likewise scorching. Already, a few have dropped, their shaft roots scalded to a crisp. And as his eyes trace their length and the damage, his heart almost stops when he gets to the very last flight feathers.

Those white tipped feathers that stand like an ever-present reminder of everything they've been through and what Kageyama endured and sacrificed for him—the choices the setter made… their edges have started to wither as well. The rag slips from his hands.

A shaking hand drifts forward, and he blinks to clear his blurring vision. His digits ghost over the frosted feathers, the ruined edges rough against the pads of his fingers. The sensation is like an echo of how badly he's screwed up, how he's failed to respect everything his leveler is and has done for him.

Desperation snakes through him and before he's realized it, his hands shoot out and fist into Kageyama's shirt. He lifts his unconscious leveler an inch off the floor, not even noticing the way the other three people around him jar at the movement.

"Tobio!" His voice cracks when the other boy's head lolls back. "Tobio Kageyama, you fight, you hear me?" He says to the raven-haired setter, but gets no response.

"You need to wake up. I can't tell you what an idiot you are if you don't." He says, shaking him once. "And I can't tell you how badly I messed up. Fight Kageyama. You have to wake up, because I need you to know I'm sorry."

By the time he gets it all out, his voice is little more than a whimper and Yachi's small hands close on his shoulders as he loosens his grip on his leveler, letting him back down onto the floor. He watches almost despondently as Yachi puts the rag back into his hands and slowly guides him through dipping it into the water and gently pressing it over the burning skin on Kageyama's face and neck. When she's confident he's got it down— really, it's very simple— she places a lingering hand on his arm before she steps out with Kiyoko.

And then it's just him and Daichi sitting there with the unconscious avian prince, Shouyou periodically rewetting the rag and pressing it to Kageyama's skin. The former unit leader doesn't say anything and the redhead is torn between gratitude and scalding discomfort. On one hand, he would really rather his unit leader ream him out, yell, curse, beat the crap out of him—anything—because he more than deserves it… but on the other, his silence is a blessing. Shouyou's positive that he's on the verge of getting hysterical and focusing on the rag in his hand right now might be about all he can handle.

His sole desire… is to see Kageyama wake, see his cobalt eyes once more. Shouyou won't be angry if he wakes and then never wants anything to do with him again; there is something the redhead needs to tell him and he will be content if he gets that chance.

As the light slips away for the day, he remains beside the dark-haired boy, finally curling up beside him with tired, hollow eyes as everyone starts coming inside for the night. Ignoring their searching glances, one of Shouyou's hands reaches out to splay across Kageyama's ribs, the rise and fall under his palm and pulse under his fingertips reassuring in their regularity that Kageyama is still alive.

It takes him a long time to get to sleep and everyone around him has gone quiet by the time his eyes start getting heavy; Shouyou's last thought before he drifts off is that it's unusually dark, and he realizes that for the first night in eighteen months, he won't be glowing.

A/N: Another slower chapter: have a Shouyou meltdown moment. This chapter made me despondent for like a day after I finished it. The whole feeling I was shooting for was kind of a numb despair... not sure if I hit that mark, but hey, depression works too i guess. Not sure how I feel about it. I failed to pull emotions like I have with others, I think. Next one is more interesting I promise. :) Have a great night guys!


	12. Year One,30 3-3 Reparation

**YEAR ONE.30 3/3 Reparation**

Some people care too much. I think that's called love. ~Winnie the Pooh

When Shouyou's eyes drift open through the wisps of a headache, he blinks at the early morning sunlight that drifts through the large front room window. All he can see is a wrinkled shirt before he notices the blankets beneath him, a cat's warmth at his back, and gradually, it dawns on him: he's still alive, so Kageyama must also still be alive.

The steady rise and fall of the warm chest beneath his hand reassures him. He slowly blinks once more and notes a weight across the back of his neck, before sluggishly glancing up at his leveler.

Kageyama must have woken sometime during the night, because he's rolled onto his back. The color has returned somewhat to his face, but it's still drawn and pale. The pressure on his neck is, in fact, Kageyama's hand, and Shouyou can't keep the swell of nostalgic fondness from his gut. A dark object on Kageyama's shirt beside his thumb catches his gaze and he frowns slightly, his hand sliding toward it. His fingers close around it, light and scratchy, and as he focuses on it, his gut drops and his head rises with dread.

His eyes land on Kageyama's wings and Shouyou abruptly wants to weep, because nearly all of his feathers look like the scruffy fried one in his hand, many of them already having dropped from the featherbeds to scatter loosely around them.

The weight on his neck disappears and a heavy sigh escapes Kageyama, making Shouyou freeze. When he finally looks up at his leveler, Kageyama's hand is on his forehead, his cobalt eyes fixed firmly back on him with tired focus. Shouyou wants to fidget so badly, and he knows he's staring wide-eyed at the black-haired crow, but he can't help it.

He doesn't know what to expect. The last time they'd spoken, they'd been locked in an argument and attempting to kill each other via leveler bond. Kageyama blinks lethargically and Shouyou caves to his nervous tension, his jaw working to begin what he just knows will be a useless string of babble.

"Kageyama, I—"

"Water." He cuts him off with a scratchiness that's not unlike sandstone. Shouyou blinks before jerking upright.

"Right." He says, scrambling to fulfill his leveler's request. He nearly collides with Noya who's already holding out a glass.

"Yaku says six of these in the next three hours." He announces and Shouyou's jaw drops.

" _Six_?" The small crow nods.

"You didn't see the number of times he heaved yesterday and he sweat _buckets_. He'll need that and more." Noya says bluntly and Shouyou automatically reaches out to take the glass from him. When he turns back, Daichi is already helping Kageyama sit up, the motion dislodging more crisped feathers. It takes Kageyama a solid ten minutes to finish the glass of water, and Shouyou watches him in nervous silence the whole time, his hands clasped in his lap. When his leveler finally passes the empty glass off, the redhead looks down at his hands.

"Ano..."

"I'd like a bath. I feel gross." Kageyama says to Daichi, and Shouyou bites his lip and glances up at him feeling very much ignored. Their former unit leader simply nods.

"Shimizu and Hitoka already have one set up. Be sure to thank them." Kageyama nods as Daichi helps him to his feet… and it becomes very apparent how weak the black-haired setter is.

He can barely stand on his own without bracing himself against Daichi, the simple act of balancing under his own power draining what little color he's regained from his face. And Shouyou's pulse stutters as more feathers drop from his disheveled wings. Tanaka slides into place on Kageyama's other side to help support him and Shouyou jumps at a light touch on his shoulder. Suga pushes another glass of water into his hands without a word and gently pushes him forward after the other three crows.

He can't help but feel awful as he stares down at the cup in his hands, the water's reflection rippling with each uncertain step he takes. Kageyama hasn't hardly acknowledged him and Shouyou is positive he's still angry. It makes his stomach twist uncomfortably until he's sure he's going to hurl. Like before a Volley match only several times worse. Another scorched feather drifts by him and he pauses for a long moment.

Slowly, he turns and stares down the hallway they've just come through, his heart fracturing at the trail Kageyama is leaving behind. He's losing _so many_ of them that Shouyou is sure he won't have any left by the end of the day. The sound of the bath door opening makes him jump and he hurries after the other three.

"Would you like us to leave?" Daichi asks and Shouyou wishes he hadn't, because Daichi's given Kageyama the perfect opportunity to banish him from the room.

"Please." The other boy says simply.

Shouyou's gut sinks, his shoulders hunching as his eyes hit the floor. He isn't sure what he expected; he'd rendered his leveler unconscious, he should probably be thankful Kageyama hasn't tried to kill him. He sets the glass within easy reach of the setter and turns to follow the other two back out, sincerely struggling to keep the burning sensation behind his eyes from spilling over.

But he doesn't get more than a step away before one of Kageyama's larger hands closes on his arm. It doesn't bear the usual bracing strength, but it freezes him on the spot and his head snaps up to look at the avian heir.

"You will stay." Kageyama says in a flat voice, his cobalt eyes dully fixed on the wall.

So Shouyou stays.

Kageyama makes a sour face at the lukewarm water in the basin, but doesn't complain as Shouyou helps settle him in. His leveler has yet to look him in the eye since he'd initially woken and he can't decide if that's a bad thing. It's awkward and the redhead has no idea what to do with himself in the building silence, but he will stay no matter how uncomfortable, because Kageyama told him to.

His fingers itch with nerves and he absently picks up a washcloth and tentatively runs it over one of Kageyama's shoulders. His leveler doesn't balk and he takes it as consent… or at the very least, indifference. The contact eases his tension just a bit and his movements grow more sure; the cloth dips into the water and across his shoulder again, then down his arm and across his back.

"Hinata." The sound of his name from his leveler makes him flinch and his hand jerks back.

Shouyou can hear it in his voice; Kageyama is _done_. He isn't sure what he's all done _with_ , but he knows he is tired and he is _through_. Everything has failed, so Kageyama is resorting to bared words with all the forward precision of a scalpel but all the searing pain of a blunted blade. And Shouyou cringes because he knows his heart will probably sob before his leveler is finished, but he dares not interrupt.

Kageyama's face turns toward him slightly, but his weathered gaze still doesn't seek him out. Shouyou can feel himself holding his breath, afraid of what the other boy will say.

"You never ask about my nightmares, so I never ask about yours," he begins quietly, his voice an even flat tone and Shouyou's chest constricts with dread, "but… in mine, I'm always waking up under an oak tree, frantically wondering where you are. I'm always stumbling across a crumpled shattered wing, blood flecked across crushed feathers and red against the grass. I'm always running out of daylight to see by, and I'm always seeing blood tinted water. And _always_ , I'm racked with the sense that I won't make it there in time like I did before."

"Kageyama, stop!" Shouyou begs, scrambling to prevent him from speaking another word. He doesn't know if he can take this brutally honest and forthcoming version of his leveler; Kageyama didn't _do_ confessions and his voluntarily voicing something they both avoid somehow feels inherently wrong.

"You don't have to tell me." He says quickly.

Kageyama's admission prods the limits of his own emotional endurance— and he doesn't think he could return the favor and tell him what _he_ dreams of. He doesn't think he could ever tell Kageyama that one of his nightmares all but played out verbatim yesterday and the remnants of it still linger now.

"I think I do, because you need to know." His leveler says emotionlessly and Shouyou shakes his head.

"I _do_ know, Kageyama." He reassures, earnestly trying to keep him from continuing. Unfortunately, luck has fled him today.

"I don't think you do. I can't just let you go. It's not just that I don't want to, or that I hate it, or that it makes me nervous— it's that I physically _can't_. I've tried, Shouyou. I've reminded myself of the consequences, know I'll pay for it later, but it makes no difference. I've told myself that I won't care, that I'll leave it alone, or that it will be fine, but it's always a lie. There is no fiber of my being that is alright with even a remote possibility that you might be in danger and I'm not there. There's no part of me that will _ever_ be okay with that."

Shouyou's mouth has dropped. Never mind the fact that Kageyama's probably said more in that one breath than Shouyou can remember in the last several centuries, the redhead is left mentally spinning at his leveler's blunt revelation.

"Kageyama, I—"

"I know you need people, I get that you have to have interaction and variety. I know that the same thing day in and day out will make you crazy. But this isn't the solution...it can't be, because I can't do it. I can't stand the thought that you might need help and I won't be there." He says, his brow creasing between his eyes, as if it's something he'd never intended to feel let alone admit but he's resolved. And Shouyou can't stand that uncertain look, is instantly trying to reassure him with his next breath.

"You'll always be there. Sheru Bay really isn't that far, you can cover a league in—"

"And I'm telling you I can't do it. It will only take one passing sentry to notice you and everything goes to hell." He says, his voice still flat and… _resigned_. Shouyou lets out a heavy breath and tentatively raises the cloth to resume his task of assisting Kageyama with his bath.

"I'm not helpless, Tobio. I think I can hide from one sentry." He says softly.

He already wore a cloak to conceal the feathers that would give away the fact that he'd been grounded; it was part of the original plan to help keep him less recognizable. With the mantle, it was possible to pass himself off as something _other_ than avian. And he _could_ handle himself in a brawl, that incident at the fish shop last year notwithstanding. He'd had all the same combat training as Kageyama and the others.

But the way Kageyama's head tilts is a dead giveaway that he just rolled his eyes. Shouyou frowns slightly; his leveler obviously thinks he's said something stupid.

"They won't have to see you to notice you, idiot, all they'd have to do is hear you." Kageyama murmurs. It's still devoid of most emotion, but Shouyou can hear an echo of annoyance and he reaches for it like a lifeline.

"Pfft, yeah right." He says with a skeptical huff, a corner of his mouth twitching. Kageyama's cobalt eyes finally flicker his way and he catches his breath.

"I'm serious. You have one of the clearest voices I've ever heard. It has a pure sound that carries and I doubt anyone in my father's military would forget it." He says and Shouyou's face is abruptly heating, because the way he says it with the tips of his ears flushing— Shouyou's sure that this is something Kageyama somehow finds _appealing_.

"Eh… I don't think—"

"Besides... if it gets back to the rookery that we're in Sheru Bay, they will trace us back _here_ and it won't be just you and me and our unit under fire; it will be the cats, the owls, the girls, and Yamaguchi and the blond bastard—- _everyone_. If my father decides to bring a whole battalion of sentry units after us, I doubt even all of us together could stop them.

"You _know_ my father, Shouyou— his track record with cats isn't good, a unit that's committed treason by desertion won't fare much better, and skies only know what he'd do if he got his hands on owls. You and I _might_ survive if he doesn't haul off and eliminate you at the outset, and our outlook wouldn't be bright in any case. No matter how I spin it, I can't see that going down without at least a few casualties." Kageyama's royal blue eyes tiredly focus on the wall again with a dark frown. "Everyone already assumes the risk of being connected to us; I don't think we have the right to ask them to shoulder more when it could get them all killed."

Shouyou blinks as the conversation gains back all of its weight once more, and glances down at his hands.

He's always known the things Kageyama says… but he's not sure he's ever really _thought_ about them. Kageyama's primary reason for not wanting him to leave the beach house might be personal, but he'd also assessed the potential impacts of Shouyou's choices with regards to the others— which was more than _he'd_ done. He'd been so desperate to get out and _do_ something that wasn't the same thing he'd done for the last year, that he'd never considered the peril for everyone else. Kageyama is doing the same thing now that he'd done at the rookery— trying to keep them _all_ safe.

"You're right." He says softly. "They already place everything on the line as it is."

Kageyama shifts a wing stiffly, bending it around in front of himself to absently examine the ragged feathers, his brow creasing in thought. The redhead allows himself to do what he's been avoiding since coming to the bath and really _looks_ at his leveler's wings. His lungs burn and he swallows hard.

The once beautifully pristine wings sag with fatigue, the feathers crisp and brittle where they once flexed with smooth recoil. Kageyama is missing a mass of primaries and secondaries, creating a choppy outline where they are already gone. The ones that remain are so tattered, they look as if they'd been drug under a whetstone, the delicate vane fibers that line their shafts separated and kinked. It looks like Kageyama got way too close to an open bonfire with the melted appearance of the down near the wing beds, the covert feathering no longer lying sleekly against them. Instead, the small plumes stick out haphazardly, refusing to fall into any semblance of alignment and creating something of a pinecone effect. Kageyama's spectacular wings, from his shoulders to the spread of the pinions… have been reduced to twisted remnants of frayed and frazzled feathers. Shouyou blinks as his vision threatens to water over.

"Ano… what do you think we should do?" Shouyou asks, hating the silence. One of Kageyama's hands lifts to brush lightly across the disarrayed black quills, his frown deepening slightly.

"Not this again. And find another way… one that keeps us both sane." He says quietly. His fingers close around one crisp feather that gives to the pressure far too easily; it's on the verge of falling out as well.

"Do you have any ideas?" Shouyou asks, feeling helpless to fix the tension that has yet to disappear between them.

"Nothing realistic yet." He murmurs and tugs the shabby feather free. The action makes Shouyou flinch violently.

"Kageyama, what—"

His leveler deftly pulls another and the redhead's calm abandons him.

"Tobio, don't!" He yelps, a hand latching onto his arm, but his leveler shakes him off.

"They're all going to fall out anyway." He says and reaches for another. Shouyou doesn't have a reason for his blinding panic.

"No!" He barks anxiously, reaching out like lightning and slapping the menacing hand hard enough that it smacks into the water with a splash.

It takes a moment for his thoughts to catch up with his actions and he sucks in a sharp breath and yanks both hands back to his chest in horror. Kageyama's head slowly rolls in his direction, his gaze flat in a look that Shouyou can't read.

"S-sorry." He whispers, terrified of having made things that much worse. Gods know, him hitting Kageyama _now_ can't possibly have made anything _better_. His gaze drops and his shoulders hunch in around him.

"Sorry." He murmurs again, his gaze blurring and he blinks. "It's my fault we're so broken, huh? I… I've really messed things up, haven't I. I'm sorry, Kageyama."

There's a quiet slosh and then a fierce grip closes on his shirt and _yanks_. He collides with Kageyama with a gasp, his shirt instantly sticking to wet skin as his leveler cages him into an uncompromising embrace. As the water soaks into the material, the avian heir's hold tightens even more, trapping his arms between them.

"I don't care how broken we are or how we got here. We've gotten through everything else, we'll make it through this." Shouyou's breath catches.

"Do you still want me to go?" He whispers. If it's possible, the redhead thinks Kageyama's grip cinches a little more.

"Only if you think you'll still be invincible." He says, his voice sounding scratchy. "But that's not what I want." Shouyou hiccups, a silent sob rising through him.

"Me neither." He rasps.

Kageyama doesn't let him go.

He's half soaked from his leveler catching him up mid-bath, and he's choked with tears, but he's grateful to any deity in existence that Kageyama still wants him to stay beside him. A long thumb rubs up one of the ridges on Shouyou's back, his leveler quiet for several long moments. Shouyou takes the chance to try and collar his emotions again, so that when Kageyama does release him, he'll be able to meet his gaze fully. His leveler lets out a sigh that puts him on alert.

"Shouyou… I'm going to pull the dead feathers." He murmurs against his back and the redhead tenses.

"Don't. Please don't pull them."

"The new ones grow in slower if I don't. If I leave them in, it will take longer before I can fly again." Shouyou jars.

"That's not true." He says shakily. Kageyama's hand comes up against the back of his head.

"It is. I've been through this enough times by now to know. I'd be hard pressed to get off the ground already and they'll only keep dropping. If I pull them, they'll start coming in again in about a week from now. In the meantime, I'll get to experience what you go through every day being confined to the ground."

"I don't want you confined to the ground. Besides, if you pull them all, your wings will be bald!" He whines and he hears a slight huff of amusement.

"I'm already confined to the ground so that's a moot point. And just so you know," He murmurs and Shouyou feels a burning pinch in his back.

Kageyama finally loosens his hold and leans back, raising a scruffy feather in front of him. The hint of a smirk creases a corner of his mouth.

"I won't be the only bald one. You're losing yours this time, too."

A/N: This one is pretty close to it's original rough write. A little bit of bittersweet Kagehina for you all. While I think Hinata would cave in a fight first, I imagine that Kageyama, when pushed to his limit, would be the more drastic personality swing.

Apologies for the late update... I was obligated to engage in human interaction and went for dinner with a friend. Thank you all for sticking with me, you are all amazing. Have a stellar evening, guys!


	13. Year One,50 1-1 Umbral Encounter

**YEAR ONE.50 1/1 Umbral Encounter**

In a world that's changing so quickly, you're guaranteed to fail if you don't take any risks. ~Mark Zuckerberg

 **Kuroo Tetsurou** glances over his shoulder a little uneasily as he skitters through the shadows looking for a good vantage point.

The rookery is unusually active for how late in the evening it is with a large number of people still milling around while the last rays of light disappear as the world rolls over for another day. Of course, it was only _after_ he'd gotten here that he remembered the bustling mass of avians the rookery turned into in the days just before migration.

He finds a ledge in shadow just inside civilian premises and deftly leaps up and settles into place to wait. He shouldn't be stuck here long; his target just finished delivering his daily report. All that was left was to catch him when he was alone. Kuroo grimaces.

He'd nearly been caught twice as he'd moved around, one of them while he'd been slinking through the rafters of the large assembly building on military grounds. Being cornered in the middle of one of the main military buildings and surrounded by the largest concentration of sentries in the rookery would likely have been _most_ unpleasant.

He'd found an alcove above the Grand King's study in the course of shadowing his target, Iwaizumi… and had entertained more than one fantasy of offing that monster while he waited for the sentry crow to show up. He's been inside the rookery more times than he can remember, but he'd never been quite that close to the Grand King. All it would have taken was a slight leap between a couple support beams near the vaulted ceiling for him to drop down on top of the rookery leader and taking him out at that point would have been easy. It was remarkable, he thought, that avians— masters of the sky— even they didn't look _up_.

Iwaizumi had come in, still half sweaty after an aerial Volley practice, and the ensuing conversation had been entertaining to say the least. The rookery leader's and his son's personalities were truly night and day. The sentry leader was nearly as antagonistic toward the Grand King as Kageyama was toward the redhead… the difference was in the Grand King's reactions. Where Hinata would immediately fire back a retort and promptly lose himself in a bickering match, the rookery leader was a crackerjack manipulator and excelled at crafting elaborate verbal sparring traps. He could lay out a perfect insult and expertly maneuver Iwaizumi straight into it. To his credit, the sentry leader had been stoic through all of the Grand King's superficial animation, adeptly picking out the important details camouflaged within the cheerful childishness.

Seeing this man, this monster from his memories, so oddly _playful_ around Iwaizumi had made him wonder if he was really the same person who'd marked Hinata for elimination. But then Kuroo'd remembered the faces of the people he'd lost at the whim of that man— and it had sobered him. It had taken a solid dose of control not to act on any of those dormant emotions that surrounded his memories of the Grand King, and he'd left the assembly building as soon as the sentry leader was finished in order to keep it that way.

As Iwaizumi walks by his shadowed hiding place now, Kuroo smirks.

Quickly surveying the empty area, he silently drops in behind him. He has to hand it to the crow— he seems to have taken their criticism on his movements to heart and his steps are much quieter now. Kuroo almost has to pay attention to his own as he crowds in close to him.

"Gotta say, this place is different than I remember—and yet completely the same." He drawls quietly just over his shoulder and the sentry leader nearly leaps out of his feathers.

Kuroo smirks, because thanks to that last fight their most volatile level pair endured, he knows what that looks like and can easily picture the crow before him with bald wings. But even knowing how much smaller and far more fragile those limbs appear without the feathers, Iwaizumi's wings still spread into an impressively threatening display that almost has him backing up a step.

The crow's fists come up in front of him defensively before he freezes. Iwaizumi stares at him for a long moment, his eyes as large as Bokuto's and his jaw open slightly in horror. And then his face darkens into a black scowl and his hand darts out and latches onto Kuroo's shirt. The black cat does his damnedest to strangle the urge to bristle at the contact as the crow swiftly ushers him out of the open. He might be their inside link, but he isn't like the other former unit members Kuroo spends his days with; this man has no loyalty to the avian prince or their companions.

"What the _hell_ are you doing here, _cat_?" Iwaizumi spits when they reach the darkening shadows of a couple buildings.

"Sightseeing." He deadpans and the crow shoves him up against a wall.

 _Careful little bird,_ Kuroo wants to growl at him. He's not accustomed to being manhandled, and restraining himself from retaliating is growing irksome.

"How did you get in?" He hisses. An eyebrow creeps up Kuroo's forehead.

"Could have sworn you were conscious through the bit about this being one of my favorite haunts before we went and marooned ourselves on some beach. Even if the place looks different, your security details haven't improved much. The holes in your perimeter coverage are still exactly where I remember them." He murmurs, unable to keep from ribbing the avian. Iwaizumi's eyes narrow and his fist twists in Kuroo's shirt.

" _Why are you here?_ " He seethes and the black cat _almost_ punches him. With even control, he reaches up and closes a hand around the arm holding him.

"You requested ravens not be sent your way, so _I'm_ the alternative. The message is probably better delivered in person in any case since a raven can be intercepted."

"A raven would have been preferable to a _cat_ showing up in the _rookery_. You could have at least sent someone with wings. Gods know you have plenty of those." He snaps. Kuroo tightens his grasp on the crow's arm and pries it away from himself.

"Because that worked so well the last time. And of everyone who can operate with stealth, I was the one who'd been here before."

"What if you're seen?" He asks in an agitated whisper. Kuroo shrugs and shoves his hand off.

"I've been doing this for years. I'm not worried."

"If you're caught, they will interrogate you. If you wind up captured, I'll tell the Grand King everything myself."

"Don't want your great leader to find out about your involvement from someone else?"

"I'd rather he not find out I've been privy to any of it at all. You need to leave."

"Love to, but I've been tasked with delivering a message. And just a side note— I fail to show back at camp by morning, my companions head straight back to the beach and you'll lose all trace of Feathers and his unit again."

"Then say what you have to say and get lost." The crow says crossing his arms. Kuroo scoffs.

"Freaking sentries. You're all so impatient… We ran into an issue a couple weeks back and your avian prince nearly croaked." Iwaizumi's eyes sharpen.

"A sentry?" He asks tightly.

"Nothing so external… something of a bout of illness spurred by circumstance." He says dismissively and Iwaizumi frowns in confusion.

"What—"

"Doesn't matter, he's coming through just fine. But the thrush came up with a tentative solution to ensure it doesn't happen again. It's risky, but the alternative might be worse. The beach group will periodically be splitting up. Half will stay at the house, the other half will be traveling. Feathers and the redhead in particular will always be in the group that leaves the beach. It might work out in your favor anyway as they might be sighted, giving you a bunch of 'false leads' to chase down that won't trace back to our little town. We figured we should let you know so you weren't left scrambling when you came back in the spring. They are planning a trip up to the northern coast around that time so they probably won't be home when you guys return from the migration." Kuroo says and the sentry leader's eyes slide to the side in contemplation.

"Thanks for the heads up, I guess." He says with a frown, his demeanor more subdued. "Is that all?"

Kuroo ducks his head slightly and raises a hand in mute farewell as he turns away. He's nearly around the corner of the building when his feet pause on him and the hand comes up to his neck. It's a bizarre combination of compassion and deviant impishness that makes him return to where the crow watches him critically.

"Ano… I was surprised that the Grand King was setting up a contingency plan this year for your flightless residents. And allowing two units to remain with them…that's not his typical procedure for dealing with grounded avians." He says with a cocked brow, a large part of him grinning maniacally at the way the crow's pupils blow wide at information the black cat shouldn't have been privy to.

"How—"

"I told you before, offing one unsuspecting crow would be a simple matter." He says with a cheeky grin, enjoying the tension that crashes across Iwaizumi's muscles.

He's actually easier to needle than Feathers at this point what with the way the avian prince has grown immune to half his barbs. Really this guy was too easy a target; riling him up lacked challenge almost to the point that it wasn't fun.

"You were—"

"I was just noting that I was frankly shocked that he was doing it. And the choice of an outpost on the ocean. Let me guess…a winter medcamp was your idea?" The crow mentally stumbles for a few moments before shaking his head.

"Actually, _he_ suggested it… but I pushed for the location, yeah. He wanted to set them up with a permanent system here, but I convinced him to move it away from the colder interior and to the coast after seeing you guys get by alright there. It was the Grand King who called for a couple units to remain with them to provide some standing protection, though."

"Really. Color me shocked. Anyway, I mention it in light of your other concern with the snakes." Iwaizumi's eye twitches and Kuroo knows he's hit on something that confirms beyond doubt how close he'd been to the conversation between the sentry and rookery leaders a short while ago.

"What about them?"

"You're correct that they are trafficking, but it's not just pirated wares. They specialize in moving people. They've been doing it for centuries." Kuroo says, his voice gaining a hard edge. The crow's head tilts and the large cat knows he has his full attention.

"You know this for sure?" Kuroo shrugs mildly.

"One of the perks of living outside the rookery… you have a tendency to know what else does, too. Their network has grown in the last several hundred years… another downside of your Grand King removing all the people— like us cats— who'd kept them in check. But that's neither here nor there at this point, and I'd feel remiss if I didn't warn you. The location you've selected along the western coastline for your 'flightless' outpost is in precarious proximity to one of their main transportation checkpoints. It could place them at risk, especially if it is supposed to be a location for disabled or recovering avians. Another spot ten or fifteen leagues north would probably be safer."

The crow stares at him incredulously and Kuroo smacks him on the shoulder and takes a single step before pausing once more. And against everything he feels in his gut, he releases a soft oath and a sigh.

"My brother's spirit will probably strangle me in my sleep… any other day, and I might keep silent or even assist with a coup," he says, bitterness creeping into his voice, "but you should also be careful of the guy who heads the training units. He's gunning for your boss."

"Then why are you helping now?"

"Poor life choices."

"Seriously."

"Seriously? Your king bites it, you're probably in the cross hairs, too, since you seem unusually close with him. We lose you, we lose our inside contact and are left flying blind once more. And the hunt for Feathers will be a precaution to ensure he can't come back and challenge whoever takes over, one I'm positive will wreak havoc on his life prospects. I'll take an evil I know how to deal with over one I've never faced… although with the changes happening here, I'm not sure if that is such a solid analysis anymore either."

"The Grand King has changed since Kageyama's abdication. It's had a promising effect on the rookery as a whole despite the political upheaval. That's why he can't come back. I can't be sure our leader wouldn't revert to the way he was before if he did."

"Then his leaving was the best option all around. If you'd have told me this would happen when I saved his ass that night they fled, I'd have laughed in your face."

"Wait, _that_ was how they got out?" The sentry leader's eyes go wide and Kuroo chuckles.

"Give a bird eyes in the dark and a getaway was far from impossible."

"Skies. That answers _so_ many questions. I can only imagine how hard that would have been for Kageyama. He's always been hostile with things he struggles at."

"The other option was death, so he had little choice." Kuroo mutters and Iwaizumi blinks.

"The Grand King might be twisted, but he'd never kill his own son." He rebuttals, and Kuroo cants his head.

"Close… he wouldn't kill him intentionally, but if Feathers had stayed, he'd have eventually wound up dead with your wonderful leader to thank."

"Are you saying he'd have gotten someone else to take him out?" The sentry leader asks darkly and Kuroo huffs with amusement.

"Nothing of the sort… it's far more abstract than that." He says with a grin and catches the sentry's shoulder once more. Perhaps he could get along with this Iwaizumi crow.

"If you happen to see Feathers with the redhead and their unit again a few years down the road, I think you will understand. I promise, the explanation will be one for the record books, so try to stay alive until then, Iwa."

A/N: WOW 0.o I couldn't believe how well that last chapter went over. I agonized over it incessantly, lol. This one is more world building than actual action/plot advancement? I hope it doesn't bore anyone out after the mess of the last three chapters. Have a great night guys!


	14. Year Two 1-1 Dawning Cognizance

**YEAR TWO 1/1 Dawning Cognizance**

You don't need another human being to make your life complete, but let's be honest. Having your wounds kissed by someone who doesn't see them as disasters in your soul, but cracks to put their love into is the most calming thing in this world. ~Emery Allen

~Six Months Later, Early Summer~

 **Tobio Kageyama** smirks as Hinata strains to reach a sweet on a high shelf of a small bake stall.

It's a tart made with four different fruits and the avian heir can almost _see_ his mouth watering hopefully as he raises up as far as he can on his toes, his lower lip curling around his tongue with the effort. Hinata has always favored sweets, loves fruits. He enjoyed meats and every other part of a meal, but light sugary things with a pinch of snap are an easy way to make a best friend for the immediate future. Kageyama leans in behind him.

"Would you like a boost?" He asks, positive his amusement is bleeding through.

"Shut up, moron!" Hinata mutters and stretches just a little further. Beside them, Kuroo chuckles.

"You know they put the expensive stuff up high so kids can't get to them, right?" Hinata scoffs at him.

"Just you wait." He grunts. "When I get my wings back, I'll show you a kid." The cat snorts.

"I look after a dozen of them already. Speaking of, where did the loud twins disappear to?" He says craning his neck around.

Kuroo is ever their caretaker, and he's easily consumed with tracking down the others, his feet taking him away of their own accord. Kageyama turns back to where the redhead is still determinedly reaching for the sweet with a fierce frown on his face. The crow can't help but grin impishly.

"I hope you never grow any more." He murmurs and Hinata throws him an annoyed look.

"Idiot Kageyama, no one asked your opinion." He grumbles before turning back, and Kageyama can't help the small pool of warmth that stirs in his gut.

A hand reaches out on its own and spreads across the redhead's lower back, and the smaller boy twitches slightly in surprise before looking up at him questioningly. His large almond eyes focus on him with cautious curiosity from beneath his lashes, his face coloring just a bit across his cheeks, and Kageyama's mind stalls. His fingers absently find the ridges across Hinata's ribs beneath his cloak and shirt as the warmth in his belly blooms with quiet happiness along with a slow burn that he doesn't quite know what to do with. Either way, his greatest concern just now is if there's a way to make the redhead's face flush even more.

"Eh… Kageyama?" Shouyou asks tentatively and the taller boy is pulled from his mental kill. He reaches up and secures the tart Hinata'd been after and holds it out to him.

"Here." He says, his mouth itching to turn up at the corners and Hinata watches him carefully for a long moment before that blinding smile erupts across his face.

The redhead takes the sweet from him, his entire being lighting up. He reaches for Kageyama's sleeve and turns toward another stall, tugging him along behind. Kageyama has to pry his fingers off for a moment so he can go back and hand a couple coins over to the stall owner for the baked treat with a mumbled apology, and by the time he turns around, Hinata isn't behind him anymore.

His shoulders tighten just a bit and he quickly scans the crowd of milling people for the signature orange head of fluff. He's almost ready to leave the ground so he can search more thoroughly from a higher vantage when he spots his leveler at a nikuman stand, his bright voice drifting back to him through the throngs of people.

Kageyama relaxes, content just to watch the redhead interact animatedly with anyone and everyone, the mood from a few minutes ago lingering in his chest. There have been a lot of those in the months since that big fight— moments where an odd but not really uncomfortable tension builds between them. It's almost like… anticipation? It's like the feeling he gets when they are coming up on a migration or right before a Volley game— impatient and antsy… except it begins with the warm fondness he feels every time he looks at his leveler and results in his pulse leaping as heat curls in his gut.

The frequency with which it has been happening has been increasing with a slightly alarming intensity; but then so has the familiarity level between them. Lingering contact has become a constant in their days, brief moments where they lose track of the world around them as they lock eyes a daily occurrence.

And they rarely argue.

Though Kageyama had hardly cared that he'd wound up with bald wings for a couple weeks— the jibes and ribbing from Tsukishima and the loud twins had been annoying— he'd known they'd grow back, so hadn't spared much more thought for it.

But Hinata had apparently taken his featherless state as a personal fuckup. There were times before his feathers had grown back in where Shouyou's guilt had overpowered him and had driven him from Kageyama's side for hours, and Kageyama had had to hunt the redhead down and pretty much initiate a sparring match to pull him out of it. It was oddly backward from how it had been back at the rookery where he'd track the kid down for a boxing match to relieve his own stress— now he was searching Shouyou out to get _him_ to release his pent-up emotions.

Hinata's bouts of melancholy had dwindled and he'd eventually built into the bickering matches once more, but the small spiker would backpedal as soon as the insults gained any weight. Kageyama couldn't blame him; he'd grown more cautious, too. Having seen the stark fear on his leveler's face and knowing he'd legitimately been in a dangerous 'breaking' fight had made him somewhat gun-shy of confrontation as well.

Suga's idea of traveling to other towns that weren't Sheru Bay had been a godsend.

It meant that they wouldn't be highlighting their home location and endangering everyone at the beach house while still allowing them both to keep their sanity. Hinata would get the human interaction he craved, and Kageyama wouldn't be forced away from him. Although a bit risky, it was a brilliant solution all around. This was the third roaming trip they'd embarked on since that fateful argument and they'd had almost no disagreements since.

They were always accompanied by roughly half the beach crew, but this time, the number was a little larger. The circumstances that spurred this trip were… interesting in simplest terms, confounding at their roots.

A week ago, they'd welcomed a new level pair. They hadn't gained any new additions to the beach crew… but every avian had gotten a crash course in feline levelers.

Lev had been harassing Yaku about his height like he did every day; Yaku had been losing patience with the tall cat like _he_ did every day. When a ball had landed just out of Yaku's reach off a block, Lev had remarked that he'd have gotten it if he were just a little taller. When the feline libero had scoffed at him, the grey cat had gone so far as to hypothesize that he might actually be _losing_ height.

Yaku had straightened with a homicidal glare, marched up to Lev and latched onto his collar. He'd turned with an unnerving deadpan look at the rest of them and announced that he and the lanky cat had a few things to discuss, and then ushered said bewildered blocker into the brush behind the house with quiet stiffness.

"Why do I get the feeling there won't even be a body?" Tanaka had asked with a grimace and Kuroo had merely chuckled.

"Eh, I'm sure they will be fine." Hinata had dismissed it. After all it wasn't that unusual for the small cat to school the tall one when he got tired of his verbal prodding or willful childishness.

Except… they never returned from the trees. The afternoon had drifted into evening and soon night had fallen, too. Everyone had slowly begun to wonder what had happened to them, Kuroo even ready to head out looking— but the redhead had reiterated his earlier confidence that they were alright.

"They are out there together, and they are both formidable." He'd said with regards to how both cats held their own in hand to hand spars with the former sentries fairly well. So they'd settled in to wait. Kageyama had been unceremoniously awoken the following morning by the door slamming open followed shortly by an oath from Kuroo.

"What the _fuck_ , you guys."

Their two missing members had returned, quite disheveled—and had that been a _hickey_ on Yaku's shoulder?

Kenma had stared at them with eyes the size of eggs and Kuroo's dark scowl was largely undermined by his arguably astonished look. Lev had caged the small cat against himself with a rather satisfied air, and pleasantly greeted the sleepy faces that all turned toward them while Yaku's face had flushed all the way to the tips of his ears.

"It's a beautiful morning."

"Eh… what's going on?" Suga had questioned and Kuroo's jaw had worked uselessly.

"This tiny cat is _mine._ " Lev had announced while Yaku managed to look annoyed.

"You don't get to call me that until you can receive properly." He'd remarked with frazzled irritation. Lev had pouted, but his grin hadn't wavered. The exchange had been baffling to say the least.

"They are a bonded pair." Kenma had supplied softly. He'd been met with blank confusion all around as Lev had grinned wildly and Yaku's skin had reddened even more.

"Bonded… pair? As in levelers? How do you know?" Bokuto had questioned, rubbing the lingering sleep from his golden eyes.

"Eh… we can kind of see it." Kuroo had finally managed. Everyone had turned to stare at him.

"Eto… you can _see_ it?" Yamaguchi had asked, completely bewildered.

"Feline levelers are discernable to everyone when in direct vicinity of each other." Kenma had remarked.

"But Kuroo said he could _see_ it…" Hinata had said with confusion.

"We can." Lev had confirmed with a grin.

"Lev's right, we can, but avians are unable to. We aren't sure why, but it might have something to do with our superior eyesight. Like we see another frame of light or something… kind of like how we can see in the dark." Kenma had murmured, his eyes still huge.

"You guys can see levelers?" Bokuto had asked incredulously.

"Sort of. For cats at least." Kuroo had answered stiltedly as if he were weary of life.

"Then you should have been able to see them as levelers all along, right? Why do you guys look so spooked?" Tanaka had asked with a scowl.

"Feline levelers are a little different." Yaku had said self-consciously, his face still aflame. "Do you remember me telling you about half bonds, Noya?" The short crow had twitched at his name but nodded.

"Feline levelers share a visible link for both a half and a fully bonded level pair. It's like something of a translucent thread that runs between us and when a half bond is converted to a complete one, it turns opaque and glows as brightly as Hinata's feathers at night."

"And you and Lev share one of these now?" Suga had asked curiously.

"We do… we are fully bonded as a level pair and all constraints and benefits that go with it now apply just like yours with Daichi or Kageyama's and Hinata's."

"Wait… does that mean your ears go bald when you fight?" Hinata had asked as if _that_ were what they all needed to know.

A few haphazard explanations later, they had the gist of how feline level pairs worked. Turned out, they weren't just a level pair… they were somehow an _item_. Kuroo had scrambled to put together a trip in a bid to flee the house and give them some privacy, everyone either joining or opting to spend the time in Sheru Bay with Suga's relatives. The girls, the owls, Daichi, Suga, and Asahi had all remained in town while the loud twins, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Hinata, and of course, himself had all accompanied the remaining two cats.

It had been happy coincidence that the jaunt across country had coincided with one of the many summer festivals much to Hinata's ecstatic glee. They haven't seen or heard a whisper of a sentry in the last year and in the middle of the celebration around them, today is no exception. As Kageyama watches the redhead chatting brightly to the nikuman stall owner, the crow setter has to thank the two new levelers for supplying them with an— albeit awkward— excuse to leave Sheru Bay.

Hinata's excitement and happy charisma are entirely worth it.

The redhead nods to the man and takes a small bag from him. He spins in place, his brilliant almond eyes quickly seeking him out before buzzing toward him through the mass of people and not for the first time, Kageyama is amazed that this little redhead is his leveler. He's known him for centuries and only in the last couple years has it really registered how much he matters to the avian heir. This animated ball of energy charged with an electric zest for all things _life_ means more than the world to him and he's ashamed to have ever taken that for granted. Hinata comes up in front of him, beaming with eager enthusiasm and holds out a steam bun.

"Kageyama! They had pork curry filled ones! I grabbed one for you." He says his smile completely crinkling the corners of his eyes. Kageyama feels his ears burn just a bit as he reaches out to take the proffered snack.

"Thanks," he murmurs, quietly pleased beyond reason at the way the redhead remembers one of his favorite meals and found a variation of it in the middle of the chaos their life has become. Though it's hardly surprising given how long they've known each other.

Literally centuries— Lev and Yaku had probably known each other a year before they wound up as levelers. The other level pairs all seemed to be like him and Hinata; Sugawara might not have been part of their rookery unit for very long, but Daichi had known him forever and Bokuto had said he and Akaashi had been friends for decades. They haven't known many levelers, though, so their knowledge is limited…

"Kageyama?" He's pulled out of his thoughts by Shouyou's voice and looks down to see the redhead watching him closely.

"You have one of those looks." He says.

Kageyama blinks and almost brushes his probing comment and searching gaze off, but thinks better of it. Suga had said communication was the key to avoiding fights.

"I was just thinking that Lev and Yaku's… _bonding_ ," he murmurs with uncertainty, because he has no idea _what_ the term for that situation was, "was really fast. I mean, they only just met last summer."

 _And we've known each other since we were kids_.

Hinata's gaze creases, the almond orbs straying to Kageyama's wings— specifically the last few primaries on their ends. It puts the avian prince on guard, because whenever the redhead focuses on the tipped feathers like that, it usually means he's dwelling on a bad memory.

"I don't think it's that unusual… when you have something significant in common, I think finding some common ground is probably pretty easy." He says with a thoughtful frown and Kageyama's brow rises in surprise.

"Something in common?" He echoes and Hinata nods.

"You remember me telling you about Yaku's ears?" He asks, his gaze briefly flicking to Kageyama's wings again and he realizes why.

"Yeah, something about how he lost someone important." Hinata's gaze slides to the side.

"Well, Lev is _gray_ so it might be a little harder to tell, but his ears are frosted, too."

Kageyama mentally trips. He doesn't bother to doubt the redhead's eyesight— it was superior to his in any case— but Lev had lost someone as well?

"Lev said something not long ago, I don't even think he realized it, really. He said he'd known someone a lot like Yaku once, and I noticed it then. I guess... I just think that because heavy loss is something really deep and personal, it's something people who've experienced it can share and connect over." The impact of the realization aside, Kageyama is uncomfortable with the weight of the conversation.

"Oh." He says. "What do we connect over?" He asks curiously. The smaller boy looks up at him with surprise before his brow scrunches in thought.

"You mean besides having grown up together, surviving military training and a violent attack, and then abandoning everything? No idea."

"Idiot. Be serious." He grouses. Hinata gives him a blank look.

"I am serious." Kageyama takes a swing at him with irritation, but he ducks away with a grin.

"We leave you guys unsupervised for fifteen minutes and you're already fighting?" Kageyama wants to roll his eyes in annoyance at the sound of Tsukishima's voice.

"Nope." Noya's echoes from his other side. "If it were a real fight, you'd have been fair game after that remark, too."

"Yeah, these two actually get to swinging, no one in range is safe." Tanaka says, his arm dropping across Kageyama's shoulders and Hinata grins.

"I hardly think you're qualified to be giving me survival advice since your own instincts are questionable in the best circumstances. You did get swindled out of nearly everything except your shirt by the first crafty fox we ran into on this trip." Tanaka's face drops into a homicidal scowl at the ibis' not so subtle barb, but Kageyama has to admit the blond is right.

"She was even prettier than Shimizu— and far more amenable." He mutters.

"That's because she was working you over. You should get a girlfriend and you wouldn't have to worry about that happening anymore." Hinata says bluntly and the bald crow withers.

"That'd work, except the only girls ever really interested in him are all cons. Would be awesome if you could find one who could cook like Shimizu or Yachi, though." The shortest crow says blandly.

"Oh! Noya, you gotta come see this nikuman stall! They even have pork curry filled buns, not just regular pork or beef!"

"Wow, really?"

The two shortest members turn and split and Kageyama smirks. He's positive that if those two are left to their own devices too long, there will be a disturbing number of pranks before the night is over— more if Tanaka gets in on it. He'll probably be irritated with whatever gets planned for himself and Kuroo will probably be none too pleased either, but he can't bring himself to care, because Hinata is having fun.

The lax atmosphere fractures when Shouyou falters, almost appearing to trip before he stops completely. Kageyama would think nothing of it, except he's gone dead still. Noya turns back when he notices, but Kageyama has already taken a step toward them, because Hinata's entire body has gone rigid. The crow setter can see every vein that runs along the muscles in his calves, can tell just by the set in his shoulders that everything is flexing beneath his shirt and cloak. His fingers twist into his palms until Kageyama can see the vessels running through his forearms and his gut drops.

Hinata just went cold, his gaze fixed out across the crowd of people.

"Shouyou?" Noya calls and reaches for him.

Kageyama is halfway there when Noya's touch jerks the redhead out of his daze. Quick as a whip, Hinata's hand strikes out at the small crow who recoils as the grounded avian rolls backward and barrels away from him. He neatly threads the crowd with alarming swiftness and Kageyama sucks in a breath. Shouyou's face is warped with terror, his eyes wild and pupils blown.

 _Hinata is panicking._

The crow setter moves to intercept the smaller boy, but Hinata is frighteningly agile and skitters sideways away from him as if he were possesed. It's only a slight miscalculation of his reach on the redhead's part that allows him to snag his shirt.

"Oi, what—"

Hinata yelps and whirls on him, and in the span of half a breath, the smaller boy captures his arm and executes a fluid body throw. As Kageyama hits the ground with shock, the redhead is off again. The avian princeling reflexively springs back to his feet, people shying away from him on all sides and his wings pounding to recover the ground he's lost with frantic urgency.

There had been no recognition in the redhead's dilated eyes, just blind frenzy.

"Hinata!"

The smaller boy doesn't pause his headlong sprint and skies above, he's _fast_. Kageyama keeps just off his heels, his cobalt eyes tracking the orange head as it slips through the crowd, sees him duck off between a couple stalls and down an alley between two larger buildings. His feet touch down at the entrance to the narrow space, the avian prince never realizing that he'd left the ground. It's darker, with wooden crates lining the walls and a pile of kindling stacked out of the way of foot traffic, but as he stares down the empty alley, his gut twists with dread; Hinata is nowhere in sight.

Noya almost collides with him, Tanaka a step behind.

"Where did he go?" The short crow asks anxiously. Kageyama closes his eyes, replaying the last few seconds… it's not enough time for the redhead to have left the area, he's positive.

"Kageyama, what—"

He shakes his head once, the sharp motion silencing the others. His head bows and he draws in a deep breath. He picks out the background noise of the milling crowd behind them, the sound of Noya's uneasy weight shift, the echo of his own racing heartbeat in his ears… and slowly discards them from his focus one by one just like Kuroo taught him with all those awareness drills. For a long moment, there's nothing beneath them and he frowns darkly.

 _Where are you Hinata?_

And then… the slightest noise, the brush of fabric against itself.

The air leaves his lungs with a soft sigh and his eyes drift open. He steps forward, his strides even and measured and silent, the loud twins shadowing him. Past the first precarious tower of crates and the stack of wood… and just on the other side of the second pile of shipping boxes.

Hinata is curled into the tiny space between two crates— at least as curled as the bones beneath the skin on his back allow. His knees are pulled up tightly against himself, his shaking hands pressing into his chest just below his chin. His eyes stare straight ahead resolutely, the pupils still huge, and he twitches when Kageyama stops in front of him.

"Hinata." He says quietly. The redhead mumbles something that he doesn't catch and jolts as he kneels beside him.

"Shouyou, what's wrong?" He asks and the almond eyes focus on him solidly for the first time.

"Kageyama," he whispers, "I saw… white wings."

Kageyama blinks. They were on the coast and gulls were common; of course there would be white winged avians. But none of them ever elicited this kind of response before, not even when that one had assaulted him and Yachi in that fish shop.

"White wings?" He echoes and Hinata's hands jerk against his chest.

" _No…_ " he breathes, his eyes cracking with fright, " _White wings._ " He says, his voice fracturing with terror. Realization hits.

 _White wings_.

It's been more than two years since Hinata had been grounded. More than two years since their world had been flipped and tumbled into oblivion. More than two years since his leveler's reality had been shattered….

And not nearly enough time to forget.

Kageyama stills in shock for a long moment before reaching for Hinata's shaking hands. The smaller boy jars as the crow setter's hands close around his wrists but doesn't look away from his gaze, holding that visual connection like a lifeline.

" _Here?_ " Kageyama rasps, his world feeling like it's been plunged into icy water. Hinata doesn't speak, doesn't have to— the wild look in them is enough.

"You're sure?" He hisses, his face creasing into a dark scowl.

"I've never been able to forget that face, Kageyama… am I going crazy?" He whimpers and the crow setter recoils. He knows he's on the verge of a blinding hazy rage, but the pitiful image of Hinata blinking up at him with watering eyes grounds him.

Kageyama turns to Noya and Tanaka… and Yamaguchi? He doesn't care enough to wonder when the freckled crow showed up. They all stare at him with bewildered shock.

"Where's Kuroo?" He asks sharply.

"Here. Blondy came and found me. What's going on?" The black cat asks with level briskness as he rounds the stack of crates followed by Kenma and Tsukishima, his tone proof that the cat is deadly serious. Kageyama locks onto him.

"The bastard who attacked us is here."

"You're sure?" Kuroo asks, parroting his own question from moments earlier.

"Hinata's eyes have never lied." He says evenly.

"Did _you_ see him?" Tanaka asks and Kageyama shakes his head.

"No. I don't know if I could recognize him if I did."

"That's not very helpful since none of us knows what he looks like, either." Tsukishima mutters and Kageyama turns a baleful glance toward him.

"I'd personally love nothing more than to gut that monster, but right now I don't care. I want Hinata away from here." He says darkly before turning back to his leveler.

"Shouyou." He says, making sure he has his attention. "Did he see you?"

"I… I don't think so." He says shakily. "Kageyama… I _ran_..." He whispers, anguish breaking his expression and the crow setter _hates_ it. He places both hands on either side of the redhead's face, ignoring the violent flinch as he does, and forces him to look back.

"It's going to be alright, Shouyou. I promise." He says fiercely, his dark blue eyes holding the redhead's large almond ones as his small hands circle his wrists.

"...Okay." He finally whispers. Kageyama holds his gaze for a few seconds more and then nods.

"Okay." He turns to Kuroo who ducks his head in acknowledgement.

"We'll head south and find someplace out of town. An acquaintance cautioned of a band of snakes to the north." Kageyama nods and stands, bringing the redhead to his feet as well.

But Hinata's steps are unsteady, his legs almost giving out on him. He catches Kageyama's sharp glance and raises a hand placatingly.

"I— I'm okay." He says weakly. An eyebrow creeps up Kageyama's forehead before he turns and offers his back.

"Get on."

"Kageyama, really—"

"Shut up, dumbass. Get on."

The redhead's face puffs in annoyance before he caves and climbs up on Kageyama's back, his arms sliding up under his wings and over his shoulders. He's careful not to constrict their movement in the event he should need them and Kageyama wonders why they never did this for their dead weight training instead. It feels more secure and natural than when he'd carried Hinata in front of himself, and less awkward even if there is greater chance of hindering flight, not to mention he'd actually _dropped_ Hinata when they'd fled the rookery.

For the time being, he follows Kuroo from the alley and out of town on foot, he and his companions ever watchful of every face around them. By the time they are a league away from the bustling little village and stopping at a rundown inn as night drops around them, Hinata has half-ways relaxed against him, his head resting between Kageyama's shoulders, and the muscles that run into his knees under the crow setter's fingers loose, leaving his feet hanging limp.

They get two adjacent rooms, the two cats, Tsukishima, and Yamaguchi taking one, the former Karasuno unit members in the other. Kageyama gently sets Hinata on the futon and drops in front of him, careful study in his royal eyes as he takes in the redhead.

"Are you okay?" He asks quietly and Hinata looks up at him with a dull gaze.

"Kageyama… I ran. I didn't even think about it. I left you and everyone else there and _ran_." Kageyama blinks, unprepared for the shame and self-loathing in his voice.

"You could have been attacked while _I_ _fled_." He murmurs derisively.

"Hinata—"

"What good is a sentry who doesn't stay by his leader's side? A leveler who abandons his _other half_ is worse than unreliable."

"Shouyou." He says sharply, the redhead's words agitating his thoughts. "I don't care." The redhead's almond eyes crackle to life with anger.

"You should. I _ran_ Kageyama!" He snaps.

The avian prince's eyes narrow slightly. Kageyama doesn't care about the silent audience they have with Tanaka and Noya behind him; he reaches out and drags the redhead forward into a tight embrace, burying his face in the mop of orange fluff. Hinata simply sits despondent against him and he frowns.

"You didn't run, idiot. You reacted. You weren't prepared for an encounter like that and your instincts took over. Under different circumstances, you wouldn't respond the same."

"You don't know that." He mumbles into Kageyama's shirt and he huffs.

"I do. You already did. I remember that day Hinata. Not well… but I remember an angry redhead ready to sacrifice life and limb to keep me safe. I remember a ferocious sentry scout who lost his wings because he wouldn't allow another to do the same to me. I owe that scout my life." He says and feels Hinata shift, and Kageyama recognizes a sob rattling his chest. He presses his face into the orange fluff, his mouth brushing the shell of one delicate ear.

"I'm glad you took off, Shouyou. He might have seen you otherwise. I don't know what I'd have done if he'd gone after you again. For me… nothing matters more than your safety. So long as you are alive and well and playing Volley and having fun, I will be okay."

Hinata jerks in his hold, but doesn't say anything. Even though he can't see him, he can feel the slight tightening in his muscles that betrays his surprise and Kageyama is positive he probably said something he normally wouldn't.

But Hinata finally reacts, burrowing into him, clambering into his lap completely. As he settles up against him pressing as close as he can, one of Kageyama's hands drifts along the ridges of Shouyou's back while the other slides up into his hair, the setter's ears pinking slightly.

They've been more informal with their touches since that fight, but this is far more brazen than normal. True, they slept in a tangled mess every night, but this is somehow different… they are both very much awake, very aware of each other and the position they are in. Not that it bothers him… really, he doesn't mind at all, and if it helps Hinata in any way, all the better.

The door opens and Kenma pops in, holding a tray with food. The golden cat's gaze fixes for a long moment on Hinata and the locks on him as he sets it down for them. He offers the smallest smile and excuses himself once more and Kageyama feels like he's just been given the visual equivalent of a 'good boy' when one would pat a dog and wants to scowl.

"Volley." The redhead whispers and Kageyama blinks.

"What?" He asks against his head.

"We connect over Volley."

Kageyama takes a long moment to remember the conversation they'd been having back in the village surrounded by festival lights. A small smile breaks his features.

"Yeah. Wanna practice that quick when we get back?" He asks, the fond warmth blooming in his gut again.

"So long as it's you tossing." He murmurs and Kageyama cocks a brow.

"You only say that because you're so inconsistent with your stance and swing that you can't hit anyone else's. I'm the only one who can instantly adjust to compensate for whatever you are messing up." Shouyou huffs and Kageyama smiles just a little more because he knows the redhead is probably pouting.

"Shut up. I say that because your tosses are the best." He grumbles. Kageyama suffocates a chuckle through his nose, a thumb rubbing across one of the ridges in his back.

"You finally admit that?"

"Idiot, Kageyama." He grouses halfheartedly.

Kageyama does laugh, the sound foreign to his own ears, but he doesn't care because Shouyou melts into him a little more. The redhead lapses into silence and falls asleep soon after, leaving Kageyama to his own circling thoughts as he catches the glow through the fabric of the cloak over Hinata's feathers. He can't wait until he has his wings back and won't need it when they travel anymore.

"I feel like I just witnessed a miracle." Tanaka murmurs quietly and Noya drops beside Kageyama with a rice ball.

"Nah, just the opposite. Hell's frozen over and the world is ending." The short crow says with wry mirth, but the avian heir doesn't react to the subtle rib. Kageyama declines the ball the bald crow offers him as Noya eyes his own contemplatively.

"You know… there was a point where I was the one to ground him." He says softly, drawing Kageyama's attention.

"When Mom first brought him home, he had nightmares a lot then, too. It was always me who was able to calm him out of his hysterical fits of babble none of us could understand. But somewhere along the line… that changed." He says his mocha gaze sliding over to rest on Hinata's sleeping form.

"I don't know exactly when it happened, but I do have a definite point of reference where I knew it was no longer the same." Kageyama glances at him, somehow feeling like the short crow is assessing him for merit or something. "The day I remember where I first really felt that things were irrevocably different… was the day you both came into drills with bruises and missing feathers."

"The first time they got caught fighting and were sent to the race pits?" Tanaka asks.

"Hm." Noya nods. "That day none of us knew _anything_ about." He says, his eyes landing back on Kageyama with deep focus. The setter frowns and looks away.

"He was never sent to the pits. Just me." The setter murmurs.

"Wait, really?"

"I know." Noya ignores Tanaka's interjection, and Kageyama's dark blue eyes snap back to the smaller crow.

"I watched him pull all those feathers, even went along when he made me swear never to tell a soul. But I hated the fact that he wouldn't tell me where his black eye and busted lip came from. I'll have you know that I legitimately thought he'd lost it somehow because he was pulling feathers _for no apparent reason._ He sucks at lying, but his story at drills the next morning was believable because it was half true. You did get into a fight." Kageyama watches him uncomfortably.

"Yeah." He finally says and Noya nods, unsurprised.

"He never would talk about it and I couldn't understand why he kept defending you. What's more, he let you land hits." Kageyama's eyes widen as the crow continues.

"You had us all going at first, wondering if you were some freak of nature and just holding back through drills, because we all know Shouyou is wicked quick. Shouyou is never confrontational and nine times out ten, he will opt for defense over offense and keep just out of reach while his opponent tires out. The only way your hits could have connected that well was if you were in a serious close quarter spar. Which means that for him to have been that close, he was legitimately fighting back—or he just wasn't dodging. Seeing as you didn't escape scot free either, it wasn't the latter.

"It was the first time I realized we weren't quite on the same page anymore, but it wouldn't be the last time that happened; Shouyou might think I never caught on, but I knew just about every time you guys went at it on Mom's back launch platform."

Kageyama looks away with a scowl.

Noya is right, he knows. Shouyou isn't the strongest in their unit— pound for pound, maybe, but in terms of sheer strength, everyone has him beat. That doesn't make him any less capable as Kageyama had been reminded only a short while ago when the redhead had reflexively floored him. The reason he was such a threat was because that power deficit didn't matter when he had another weapon that could counter it almost completely.

Hinata could be beaten with relative ease… if you could land a hit. He was ridiculously quick in a spar. It had always been entertaining to watch the redhead go at it with Noya, because the short crow was the only one who could successfully go blow for blow with him on a regular basis. Somehow, it had never dawned on Kageyama that the fact that he'd landed blows during their boxing matches behind Momma Yu's home had been unusual… or that the others would have noticed anything at all.

Which makes him wonder… why had Hinata engaged him like that anytime he'd come at him looking for an outlet?

"I don't need to understand what all that was about… but I want you to know that you've been his first and last thought for centuries. Alongside 'Volley', your name was one of the first crow words he ever learned, right after 'Mom', 'Noya', and 'hungry'. He knew your name before he realized that 'Yu' was, in fact, _not_ my mother's, and that he'd attached it to her simply because he'd constantly heard it whenever she'd called _me_. By the time he'd figured that out, Tanaka had already picked up the habit, too, so it stuck." Noya says, drawing his gaze again. The small crow sports a wry smile as he stares at his rice ball with a reminiscent look, but when Noya's mocha eyes leap to his, Kageyama suppresses a jolt at their intensity.

"You're his leveler. You shouldn't lead him on." He says and Kageyama blinks, his mind doing a full face plant. Tanaka snorts, but the crow setter doesn't notice.

 _Lead him… on…_

 _Eto..._

"Haah?!"

A/N: Ah. My first Tobio chapter of Horizon. I had mixed feelings on this one and how it came out. I was torn on whether I wanted to keep their relationship more purely platonic or not, but I'm a pushover and easily pressured so here you all go XD

Ha, I also incorporated my Momma Yu mistake in there at the end, did you guys see? And we STILL don't know who it was that attacked them... Thank you all for reading and have a marvelous evening!


	15. Year Two,50 1-1 Duplicate Amaurosis

**YEAR TWO.50 1/1 Duplicate Amaurosis**

The most important thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging. ~Warren Buffet

~Six Months Later, Early Autumn~

 **Kei Tsukishima** eyes a high toss from the thrush, his muscles tensing to break at the precise moment to maximize the height of his jump in tandem with the strike.

A breeze preceding an impending mild storm off the water gives it a little extra lift and it's slipping farther outside than he'd like, but it's nothing that he can't adjust to. His limbs move on reflex and he's in the air, his hand connecting squarely with the ball. He sends it straight at Daichi where he waits on the other side alone, working on receives.

The thrush's tosses don't key him up the same way Kageyama's do— the avian prince's just piss Kei off with how freaking perfect they are. It's totally unnatural—as if the ball were being forcibly subjugated and enslaved to the crow's will. Next to that, Suga's high, floating sets are relaxing and he breathes out as he comes down. It's probably just his own inherent dislike for the crow setter bleeding through, but Kageyama's flawless tosses still drive him up a tree.

Since Yaku's arrival last year had unbalanced the teams, he's been playing far more frequently with the former Karasuno unit instead of the cats and owls to mitigate the power shift, and it has exposed him all the more to the young king's precision. And as far as he can tell, he's the only one who gets irrationally annoyed by it. But then, he gets annoyed by Hinata's baseless enthusiasm, too.

Seriously, the redhead had been running around without a shirt last week, and the bones growing in his back would pull his skin into creepy fleshy protrusions when he'd bend. When he'd found out it weirded Kei out, the shrimp had made a point to not wear a shirt the next three days with maniacal glee.

 _Freaking redheaded gremlin,_ he mentally grumbles at the last three days have been _blissful_ without them.

Beside him, Tadashi and Bokuto also wait to hit at the large crow. Akaashi is working the docks alone today in a rare diverging separation from his leveler and the streaked owl has been far more moody than normal. Hitoka and Shimizu both went into Sheru Bay a while ago for supplies and Kenma is curled up on one of the chairs that have found a home on the porch for an afternoon nap while Kuroo hunts.

The lax afternoon practice is halted by the sudden onset of rain from the grey clouds overhead, cold and pervasive, an insistent herald of fall. When the sand starts sticking to the ball, the thrush apologetically begs off, not relishing the grains that drop into his face with each toss. Tsukishima moves to collect the net before a full downpour; it can use some mending before it gets cold enough that they move it back into the barn for the winter.

Their standby location when the world turns frosty has consistently been available since that first year, Takeda only too happy to offer it up after that first winter. Suga and Daichi had cultivated a mutual relationship by regularly bringing them goods from town in a show of gratitude, the owls pitching in now and then with a side of fish from the docks or once even a tool to replace one showing its age. They are on good enough terms with the guy that he and his family are aware of who Kageyama and the rest of the Karasuno group are, and they know who are levelers. Really, Takeda is amenable enough with them that Kei is pretty sure the man would readily offer up his own home if they somehow ended up losing _theirs_.

Yamaguchi releases the other end of the net and they quickly drag the net up onto the porch before they are soaked. One of Kenma's gold eyes slips open as they clatter by him, but the small cat doesn't move from his place in the chair. The ibis is positive that wouldn't have been the case if Kageyama and Hinata had been here.

The golden cat has been quite sullen since they left, actually. It's not that Kenma has said anything or made even a single remark… it's exactly the opposite. His naps stretch most of the day and all conversation is virtually nonexistent unless he's around Yachi. It's put Kuroo in a stormy mood and even Kei has to admit that his silence is grating.

 _Dramatic moody feline. He has the outward emotion of a rock; it should stay that way._

It pains him, but the slim crowd this late summer week at the beach house, while peaceful, has left an utterly perplexing and bitter taste in his mouth— it's almost eerily quiet without Kageyama and Hinata bickering away or the loud twins scheming some prank or Lev's babbling chatter wearing on Yaku's patience. It was probably Feathers' and the shrimp's last chance to take a trip before the cold started setting in… and Kei's last opportunity for a stretch of peace and quiet before the next four or five months of restless chaos. Kei frowns slightly.

He's even picked up _that_ habit and started calling the avian prince by Kuroo's pet name for him like almost everyone else.

 _Oi. Freaking cat_.

But as Kei picks up a tie and turns to the net, he can't fault him for the moronic nickname; whether Kageyama ever realized it or not, it's as much a tactical move as it is an excuse to rib the perpetually salty crow. The rest of the former Karasuno unit members might have been vague enough profiles such that most non-sentries would hardly look twice at them, but Kageyama was heir to arguably the most prominent group in the area. While most people outside the rookery wouldn't necessarily have known his face, his _name_ was still something of a common bit of knowledge, and Kuroo's moniker provided him an alias around ears that might not mean them the best. He doubts Feathers ever picked up on that, though, what with the way his one-track mind was totally stuck on his leveler.

And it's gotten even worse since that run in with what Kageyama had called an 'asshole white wing'. Feathers and his idiot shrimp have been tiptoeing around each other in uncertainty ever since; for the life of him, Kei can't imagine what had to have happened, because while there has been this building tension, they've only _increased_ their physical contact and stiltedly affectionate displays. They are always grabbing food for one another, they frequently get lost in intense staring contests, and skies, they _cuddle_ … constantly. Just about every time they are together and _not_ bickering or playing Volley, one of them has their arms wrapped around the other.

 _Because that makes perfect sense_ , his sarcastic monologue drawls at him.

And yet, it's ongoing. They've gotten as bad as Lev and Yaku, and Kei could swear that whatever is making them so familiar is maddeningly contagious, because the owls and Suga and Daichi have all been doing similar things lately. Even Kei had caught himself adding a few soggy potatoes to his plate to offload onto Yamaguchi's just last week.

"Tsukki, are you salty, today?" Yamaguchi had asked after a perfectly reasonable number of blistering remarks…okay, maybe a few more than normal. Either way, Kei had deadpanned, somehow mortified that the freckled crow had called him out. It had thrown him off badly enough that he'd had nothing to come back with and defaulted to his automatic response.

"Shut up, Yamaguchi."

The door opens, breaking his thoughts before he has a chance to scoff at them. Kuroo walks out, his hair dripping wet, and one of Kenma's ears twitches in his direction. The black cat must have just returned from his hunt, coming in through the back door to get out of the rain.

The large feline slips up behind the chair Kenma is curled in, and Kei isn't foolish enough to believe that he's still asleep as his closed eyes would suggest. The small cat's tail flicks and Kei's brow cocks, because he knows Kuroo didn't miss that either. The black cat smirks and Kei blinks with flat assessment.

 _I know you aren't that stupid, you idiot Furball._

Instead of heeding the slight movement for the warning it is, the black cat grins slightly and leans forward over the golden. His head tilts just so, and a drop of water from his sodden black locks hits one of Kenma's ears.

 _I take it back; apparently, you are_.

The ear twitches and the small cat's golden eyes slide open to stare up at the black cat with apathy… and the slightest leap of a muscle at one of their corners that betrays his annoyance.

"I'm going to start a fire, want to come warm me up?" Kuroo solicits anyway. Without a word, the golden cat uncurls from the chair and slides out from beneath the wet feline.

"Aw, come on." Kuroo complains at him as he slips around him and heads into the house. "Kenma—," He scowls darkly, following the golden cat back inside.

The small cat's almost recalcitrant cold fish impression nearly surprises the ibis. Nearly.

Kenma is normally completely uninvested emotionally in most things, choosing to hang back as a wallflower and avoid all forms of confrontation. If Kei had to describe the cat with one word, it would be 'spectator'. Kenma is always _watching_ everyone. Kei is sure the cat must truly find them all _fascinating_ , because his eyes are always brightest when he can watch events unfold from a quiet corner undisturbed. Barring when he's in the company of the shrimp or Yachi, he only offers input when he deems it important—which it usually is. The ibis himself has probably exchanged all of three words with the small feline since they'd met, but Kuroo never seemed to need to, the black cat automatically knowing what he was always thinking.

But with the new bond between Lev and Yaku, Kenma had withdrawn from Kuroo, opting to spend almost all his time with the either Yachi or the shrimp— and Kageyama by default. His patience with the black cat had grown so openly thin, that he'd even managed to sandwich himself between the three avians four out of five nights in their sleep piles just before the freak duo had left on this last trip.

It had effectively succeeded in preventing Kuroo from curling up around him like he always had, and at first, it was something that could be overlooked. But after three days, Kuroo had been sour enough that he'd declared that he wasn't going on the planned trip. It had stopped everyone over their meal, the golden cat going rigid.

"Why not, Kuroo?" He'd asked with a frown.

"Because I don't feel like babysitting right now." His reply had been brittle at best and the silence had been palpable before the bald crow had awkwardly spoken up.

"Ah, that's fine, me and Noya and Asahi can go."

It wasn't that Kageyama and Hinata couldn't handle themselves just fine, it was simply that there was greater safety in numbers— and the trips provided them _all_ with a dose of variety. Even Kei had to admit that the beach house could get outright boring when there was nothing to break the monotony of their days. Kuroo's refusal to accompany them was unusual and had spurred something of a standoff between the two cats, but Kenma hadn't gone without him.

That hadn't meant he was happy about it.

The small cat was ridiculously attached to the redhead and he'd been in a sulk since they'd left, with the focus of his rebellion being Kuroo as it was because of him that he'd been separated from him. Which meant everything had been strained between them the entire week so far, which had led to the large cat gravitating more toward either Bokuto or himself and Yamaguchi for company.

 _Another idiot mistake._

Kei pauses only a moment when the door to the house bangs loudly and Kuroo walks out with a stiffness to his steps that means the cat is once again in a black mood.

"Swing and a miss yet again, I take it." Kei murmurs dryly. The cat's uneven gaze snaps to him with crackling irritation.

"Definitely not in the mood, Blondy."

"Then you came to the wrong place." Kei says flatly. The cat doesn't have a comeback though and crossly drops beside him and picks up a net tie. He's quiet for several moments and the ibis feels the mood around the feline nosedive.

"I have no idea what is going through his head." He grudgingly admits and Kei has to consciously keep the surprise from his face.

The ibis almost huffs in amusement. Kuroo is _sharp—_ disturbingly so, and armed with a frightening well of knowledge… but right now, Kei wonders if he's just being dense or if he's actually maintaining a willful ignorance to the situation. Really, he doesn't think the cat has been this blind— _heh, blind—_ since he'd met him. Kei has to think that the avian prince's obliviousness has rubbed off on him.

"So, of all of us, the person you've been around far and away the longest, is the one you understand the least?"

"Shut up, moron. It's only in the last few months that things have changed." He says with annoyance before his face drops into contemplative melancholy. "Our thread has dimmed."

The words are barely a murmur, but they catch Kei's attention. The cat is genuinely distressed.

"Your thread."

"Yeah… it hasn't changed for over five centuries, but ever since Lev and Yaku became levelers, it's been wavering. I have no idea why or how to fix it."

 _He really is clueless._

Kei glances at him patronizingly.

"Would you like a hint?" He drawls.

Kuroo blinks at him and for a moment he looks like Bokuto with his wide eyes— if Bokuto were blind in one. But his brow drops down skeptically.

"Me, ever trust a hint from you. Fifty-fifty, you'd be just as likely to tell me something that will end up with me in some humiliatingly compromising position as you are to give me good advice."

"Tsukki wouldn't do that! If he gives it unsolicited, then you know he's probably mocking you for some stupid remark, but he offered first, so—"

"Yamaguchi." Kei cuts him off dourly.

"Right. Sorry, Tsukki."

"So, trust the cynical asshole's insight." Kuroo murmurs, his clear golden eye creasing with mirth at the freckled crow before settling back on him expectantly. Kei shrugs.

"He's envious." He says bluntly, wondering how in hell _he_ wound up giving the black cat of all people, relationship advice in the rain over a shabby Volley net. Kuroo frowns.

"Why would he have any reason to be jealous of Yaku? He never once so much as glanced Lev's way before they became a pair."

 _Wow. Talk about the blind leading the blind._

"You are legitimately challenging the crow prince for the title of asinine idiot at the moment." He says with a light sigh.

"You cheeky brat." Kuroo scowls at him and one of Kei's eyebrows rises in challenge.

"Stupid cat." Kuroo rolls his eyes impatiently.

"Alright, you feathered freak, speak straight."

"Your insults lack originality. He isn't envious of either Lev or Yaku. He's envious of both. Which means I'm a threat, too." Kuroo stares at him, his baffled expression almost comical.

"What?" Kei levels a flat look at the black cat.

 _Come one, moron. Rub a pair of your brain cells together; I shouldn't have to spell this out._

"Who does your other thread run to, Kuroo?" He asks thickly. Kuroo blinks, his brow pulling down into a frown at the unexpected question.

"It goes to…" The cat's uneven golden gaze darts away, "you know it doesn't matter." He mumbles and Kei's head tilts.

"It doesn't? Who are you talking to, Cat?" He asks pointedly and Kuroo's gaze snaps up at him with dawning comprehension.

"Eh… how do you know about that?" He asks thickly.

Kei gets why he's surprised; Yaku'd given them the most basic breakdown of feline level pair bonds when they'd become one. None of the cats had really been forthcoming with anything outside that limited explanation… but one of them was easily pliable.

"Your gray cat has a mouth to match his size, and you'd be amazed what you learn when you distract his leveler muzzle." He drawls and Kuroo's jaw drops.

"Oh my— how much did he tell you?"

"More than we wanted or needed to know." He says flatly and Kuroo runs a hand through his hair before it finds its place on the back of his neck with exasperation. He looks up at the porch ceiling and blows out a sigh.

"Is everyone aware of this?" He asks, his expression pinching with annoyance.

"That depends. Which part of 'this' are you wondering about exactly? The part about whose threads go to who or the part about how those threads become wires?" Kuroo's eyes find him with large pupils yet again.

"He told you _that_?" He manages with strangled horror.

"In impeccable detail." Kei says flatly and the black cat's face smooths into a mask of incredulity.

"I'm going to _skin_ that idiot."

"That won't solve your problem."

"Would ease my current embarrassment." He grouses darkly.

"No matter how entertaining that would be, patience is a virtue, and something your small cat is losing with you. Your connection has been stressed since they bonded." Kuroo cocks a brow at him warily.

"And?"

"You should fix that." A flash of annoyance slides through Kuroo's features.

"Because that's going so well. 'Giving him space' got me absolutely nowhere, but it doesn't matter because I can't even get him to talk to me when Yachi or the shrimp and Feathers _aren't around_. Taking him on a trip just the two of us would be a bust, too. Assuming he'd agree and I wouldn't be forced to kidnap him to get him to come along, where would I take him? The rookery isn't exactly a vacationing option for us, you know."

"You don't say." Kei drawls, but the cat doesn't even seem to hear him.

"That Iwa crow wouldn't appreciate it either— he was actually _more_ peeved the second time I showed up. Can you believe that? And he was the one that sent the damn raven asking for advice on dealing with their blasted snake infestation in the first place."

"Are we still having the same conversation?" Kei asks, thoroughly entertained by the cat's frustrations.

But as amusing as his problems are, the ibis finds it irritating that he's become the conduit for them. He only volunteered his advice on the issue regarding the small cat, not the host of Kuroo's concerns in its entirety. He's most definitely _not_ a psychiatrist. The cat blinks at him.

"I don't _know_ how to fix this." He grumbles and Kei sighs slightly.

"Sounds about right. And they say cats are more intelligent than dogs. I'd almost say you are thinking on level with one of the crows." He says with amused fatigue, knowing Yamaguchi won't even be phased by the barb. The cat levels a flat look at him.

"Would you like to look like Feathers after a fight with the shrimp?" One of Kei's brows arches.

"Now you are _sounding_ like an idiot crow, too." He says before waving off the cats impending scathing remark and turning a serious glance back on him.

"Your golden cat was probably put out that your thread has gone nowhere in centuries while Lev and Yaku managed to complete a full bond from nothing in a year. And you, the only one of us who really gets that apathetic golden furball, missed that. He and the redhead are so close because they share a common grievance… the person they want to connect with is failing to pick up the cues.

"And then you hang around me with whom you share a thread like Lev and Yaku's used to be, and he's already seen that turn into a wire when it's supposed to be highly unlikely. It's no wonder he's frustrated with you. Unless I'm misreading _your_ position in all this, the number of colossal mistakes you are making is quite remarkable. Like I said, you clearly aren't doing your species any favors in the intelligence area."

Kuroo's jaw hangs loose. He looks as if all thought has been sucked from his mind, his uneven golden gaze empty.

 _Huh. So that's what a broken cat looks like. Amusing._

"That's…" His voice dies in his throat.

"You seem surprised." Kei remarks blandly and the cat blinks.

"Why are you implying I shouldn't be?" He says in a scratchy voice that sounds exhausted. Kei huffs through his nose, a condescending smirk tugging at his mouth.

"Because the young king isn't the only slow idiot and the shrimp isn't the only one waiting."

A/N: So, if anyone has ever tried playing sand VB with a wet ball, the setter struggle is real. Sand in the eyes is a bitch. Also, I'm pretty sure the quote at the beginning ACTUALLY pertains to money/debt, but I'm abusing it to fit my feeling on this chapter. But hey, who even reads those, lol

It felt like Tsukki departed a little from his cynical side in this one, but I also think Kuroo is one of the few people he genuinely respects, so he wouldn't be above offering his thoughts in an attempt to enlighten him- albeit in his typical caustic demeanor.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend. Nyx had a blast snowboarding in like 12 degree weather and a steady 15mph wind and Nyx's fingers and toes are STILL froze... so please excuse any typo fails, lol. Have a great night, guys!


	16. Year Two,80 1-2 Catalyst

**YEAR TWO.80 1/2 Catalyst**

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a super hero. ~Marc Brown

~ Three Months Later, Winter's End ~

"Kagayama! Get up!"

 **Yuu Nishinoya** rolls over with a groan, his face planting into a warm, breathing pillow.

Shouyou's _always_ been like this. It didn't matter that it was _way_ too early to be awake, he was always vibrating with energy and irrationally excitable. It could be the fact that Mom had made his favorite breakfast dish, or worse yet, made _Noya_ 's favorite breakfast. It might be the first lily opening on the vine outside their doorstep, or he found a _fascinating_ bug on the ceiling of their barracks, or he swiped a sweet bun from the sentry mess to share. Even that one time they'd gotten ahold of that bottle of sake as kids—even in the middle of a _lovely_ hangover and a painful scolding from their mom, Shouyou had been stupidly bubbly.

He couldn't keep himself awake much past sunset, but Shouyou'd be damned if he wasn't wide-eyed and bushy-tailed at unholy hours of the morning. It's ridiculous really; Noya doesn't even _mind_ mornings. But this is pretty much how he's woken up for the last seven hundred years—a neurotic redhead dragging him out of bed before he's ready to be awake. He hadn't even _needed_ the morning bell in the rookery barracks. He frowns slightly through the wisps of slumber.

He will take his adopted brother's insanity over the sterile, cold rigidity of every morning of those six months after they'd fled, because Noya still hadn't needed the bell. He'd always been half awake minutes before, expecting to be leapt on by an ecstatic ball of sunshine. And the realization that it wouldn't be coming, that they had no idea what had happened to Shouyou or Kageyama, as he'd fully woken had always been… heartbreaking.

"Come on, Tobio! It's snowing!"

Of course, there was usually always a reason for his psychotic exuberance—even if Noya would classify the vast majority of them as 'completely insignificant'. But…the short crow's eyes slide open, sleep scattering.

 _Snow_?

The beach might frost over pretty good on occasion, and it wasn't unusual for the stream to form a film of ice now and then, but it didn't snow on the coasts. At least, it hadn't through all three winters since they'd come to the beach. And considering that they'd migrated every year before that, the novelty of _snow_ , real and cold and wet and falling from the sky… was foreign. They knew what snow was, had trained in the mountains in the spring before it had all melted, but Noya doubts any of them have ever really _experienced_ it.

And in a heartbeat, he's sitting up with excitement.

Shouyou is tugging on Kageyama with an electric smile, his whole body vibrating with energy, but Kageyama sits simply staring out the large window. Daichi is also leaning up on his elbows with an awed expression while Suga watches with a quiet smile from the doorway. Tanaka climbs to his feet, drifting toward the window with a slack jaw, and Noya follows him.

Shouyou is right.

Snow, light and wispy, drifts down among the palm fronds and sea grasses, a thin dusting already coating the sand.

"Isn't it amazing?" The redhead says off his shoulder and Noya turns toward him with a grin.

"Yeah!" He says, his eyes darting around at the others.

Kenma is up, but Kuroo still appears crashed out, Yaku is blinking drowsily at them while Lev is nowhere in sight, the girls have disappeared, too, and Akaashi is sitting up lazily, but Bokuto is still snoring.

"Think we'd be able to get some down Kuroo's back and survive?" He says conspiratorially as Kageyama climbs to his feet and rubs his eyes. Shouyou glances at him with big eyes.

" _And survive_? Eh... "

"Don't count on it." The muffled growl slides out from beneath the black cat's pillow and Tanaka snorts.

"Plan B, Noya." The short one grins up at him.

"Bokuto then." He says, starting for the door.

"Leave the snow outside where it belongs, you delinquents." Daichi says with a smile that's half amusement and half warning.

"Hah? That's no fun." Noya complains.

"At least put on an extra layer or two. Snow means it's _cold_ outside guys." Yaku grumbles.

"It's been cold all winter, Mom." Tanaka grins, and Noya returns to Asahi's side as the russet cat scowls. The large crow is awake and sitting up, his dark eyes blinking sleepily at the short crow, and Noya latches onto his arm.

"Come on Asahi! We are going outside." He says, hauling on his sleeve.

"Isn't it cold out?" He says and Noya laughs at his glazed expression.

"It's snowing!" He says and large crow's eyes that are the same color as his own focus on him with puzzlement.

"Ano… snow?" He parrots and Noya grabs at the tie around his wrist.

"Yep! Come on, wake up. We are going out before it's gone!" He says, stepping behind the large crow and pulling his dark locks back away from his face.

As he drags his fingers through the mocha strands so he can pull them into a pony, he marvels at the feel of them. Asahi was the only one who'd opted to allow his hair to get so long after they'd fled the rookery. Everyone's hair had grown, but when it got long enough that it became a hindrance when they played Volley or during training, they'd cut it back. Maybe that is why he really enjoys the feel of Asahi's sliding between his hands.

"You'd think you guys had never seen it before." Tsukishima says, returning from an early morning bath.

"They haven't really. They've always migrated." Suga says with a quiet smile.

"Seriously?" Lev pokes his head through the door, his mouth full of grilled fish.

"We've seen snow…" Kageyama murmurs defensively as he helps Shouyou into a jacket.

"But we haven't ever gotten to see it _fall_!" The redhead says excitedly, his body half flailing.

"I have. Oi. Give me your arm." The crow setter grouses. Shouyou spins back to him with almond eyes crackling with bright exuberance.

"Really? When?" And Noya glances over at him, too, because he's pretty sure _he_ 's never seen it and he and their unit have been together _forever_.

"I was really little. My mom got me up in the middle of the night to see it. It was just flurries and it was cold and over in minutes and I was half asleep and hardly remember it." He says with a frown and a slight gruffness, but there is reverence there and Noya can tell that that memory is _precious_.

"Actually… I think I remember my sister going on about something like that." Tanaka says thoughtfully.

"Did all your parents toss the parenting book out the window? Who wakes their kids up when they are supposed to be asleep?" Yaku grumbles.

"Hey, mine didn't." Noya says petulantly as he ties Asahi's hair. As he reaches for his jacket, he turns to Shouyou, his thoughts lighting up.

"Hey, we can play Volley! We've never played Volley in the snow before!"

"Oh! Good idea!" Shouyou's eyes sparkle and he's heading for the door before the short crow can say another word.

"Hey." Kageyama barks with a scowl, catching the redhead by the collar and dragging him back. "You aren't a crow."

The redhead puffs up indignantly as he reaches for the redhead's scarf which is of course, _not_ on Shouyou and instead lies forgotten on the floor. Explaining _that_ little detail in the wake of their big fight had been an adventure.

Shouyou had nearly gone ballistic, insisting that 'yes, he was too a crow', his agitation growing the more they tried to explain it. It was almost as if he'd perhaps _known_ but never _realized_ it, and bringing that fact to light somehow sent him into a panic—like they, for whatever obliquely idiotic and groundless reason in Shouyou's head, would no longer accept him. Really, Noya had _no_ idea how his thought process worked sometimes.

Perhaps he'd spoken up because Suga was his leveler and _also_ not a crow, but Daichi had simply cut across the redhead and addressed the avian heir directly.

"Kageyama, does this matter to you in the least?"

The crow setter had blinked before frowning darkly.

"Why? He's still Hinata."

Shouyou had all but mentally shut down at the remark, quietly stunned at the other boy's blunt candor. Needless to say, he'd grudgingly come to terms with it in a much more quiet and brooding revelation even if he still got prickly about it whenever it was brought up. Like now.

"I am too a crow." He says with a scowl. Kageyama just nods.

"I know. But you've never taken the cold like us. Don't get sick." He says sternly, because there were plenty of times Shouyou'd come down with hellacious colds that had suddenly had an explanation. But there's no real bite in the crow's voice and Shouyou's sour expression disintegrates.

The atmosphere charges in an instant and the room goes still as Kageyama winds the scarf around the redhead, Shouyou quite obviously having completely forgotten about the falling snowflakes outside as he watches him. And if that weren't enough, Kageyama ties it off and then takes Shouyou's face in his hands. Noya's breath catches as the crow setter leans forward and gently brushes his lips against the redhead's forehead as if the action were something he does all the time.

Except it isn't.

The avian prince will cuddle and cater to the redhead, but kisses? Noya feels his spine straighten, and he can see the minor meltdown happening behind Shouyou's almond orbs. And the redhead's stare and pinking cheeks are what tips Kageyama off that he's done something out of character, and the tops of his ears flush… followed by the rest of them and his neck.

And then, before his leveler can say something stupid, Shouyou erupts into pure euphoria, the smile that lights up his face quite possibly the most dazzling one Noya's ever seen.

"Come toss, Kageyama!" He says joyfully, capturing the setter's arm and nearly dragging him out the door. Noya grins at the look of resignation that briefly crosses his face followed by the smallest of smiles that Shouyou misses, and he doubts anyone else catches it as they disappear through the door.

"That was nauseating." Tsukishima murmurs and Noya's smirk turns feral.

"You better find something to help you with that, because I'm pretty sure it's going to be happening a _lot_ more from here on out."

"Bout freaking time." Tanaka laughs and even Daichi huffs with amusement.

Kageyama _was_ ridiculously slow, but once he discovered that something 'new' was okay, it was like he'd gained a new 'skill'— one he'd ensure that he'd be nothing less than absolutely proficient at like everything else he did. Noya's smile lingers as he turns back to the large crow beside him. He'd been wondering how long it would take after that nudge last summer.

 _You're his leveler. You shouldn't lead him on._

At the time, Kageyama had looked at him as if he'd gone mad, but ever since he'd been hyper conscious of not only Shouyou, but the other level pairs around them. It was as if he looked at Shouyou differently, like he finally realized his feelings for what they were— most definitely _not_ simply platonic. And from there on out, any interaction between the other level pairs that reflected his own emotions for the redhead had caught his attention.

When he'd noticed how Lev would step up behind Yaku and wrap him in a caging embrace, he'd begun increasing the level of contact he'd shared with Shouyou. The redhead had responded favorably and it had quickly led to the small spiker clambering into his lap any time the opportunity to do so presented itself.

When he'd seen Bokuto bring back a bunch of rapeseed plants from Sheru Bay's market and prepare them for his leveler even though the streaked owl himself couldn't stand them, Kageyama would sometimes make Shouyou egg over rice in the mornings and had made a point to bring back fruits for him when he would go on hunts. Shouyou would flush at the attention, but his smile was always that much brighter the rest of the day.

When Suga had rubbed out a sore muscle in Daichi's shoulder, Kageyama had quickly honed in on the stiffness that had often been building in the tissues around the bones of the grounded avian's developing wings. It had been a little awkward at first, but as soon as Kageyama's hands touched Shouyou now, the redhead would melt under his care.

But even with all of those little things, Kageyama had still been overly cautious and reserved. Really, Noya had wanted to kick him.

When Shouyou had come to him complaining about his leveler in a sullen pout near summer's end, he'd been ready to track the crow setter down and deck him until he'd figured out what had the redhead so sour. Kageyama had made something of a cutting remark about how much time Shouyou and Kenma spent together.

In the middle of the redhead's rant of how stupid his leveler was being, Noya had laughed until his sides hurt, because his adopted brother had just proven that he could occasionally be just as much an idiot as Kageyama.

When he'd regained his composure, he'd told an even more put out redhead _why_ a certain crow setter didn't like how much he hung out with the cat. Watching comprehension dawn for Shouyou had been almost as rewarding as his instant mood shift, because a _possessive_ Kageyama was another small step forward.

And then, not two weeks later, Kuroo and Kenma had finally sorted out their mess and completed their bond as a level pair. They'd promptly disappeared for a week thereafter and during said week, Kageyama had had something of an epiphany with what Noya had come to mentally dub 'the incident'.

It had been completely unplanned, and Noya didn't think they could have come up with a prank any better than the way everything had played out.

Akaashi had brought home a new mass of netting from the docks for a new Volley net as their old one was pretty much held together with the small repair ties after years of abuse, initiation for no less than eleven avians into Ground Volley, and an attack by an owl and a cat after one lark gone awry. They'd all learned to play on it, so the shabby old net was regarded with a fond reverence, but they'd been thrilled with the prospect of a new one.

It had still needed some work to get it put together as Akaashi's netting needed to be cut down to the right size and then threaded with both the top and bottom ropes, and it had also needed the side panels to be marked out and anchor lines attached to the corners. They'd quickly drug it inside and set to work on it, the chaos of many hands all trying to help making it easy to miss that two pairs— aside from Kuroo and Kenma— were curiously absent.

Noya and Tanaka and Asahi had dragged the old net in, but Daichi had stopped them from pulling it apart to use pieces on the new one in the event they still needed it someday. So they'd measured it out against the new piece of netting and Noya had turned to Kageyama simply because he was closest, and asked him to get the spare rope that was kept in the room at the top of the stairs on the second floor. Most extra supplies ended up on that level, but almost no one ever ventured up there for any other reason than to retrieve one of them.

The avian prince had nodded without an ounce of hesitation, clearly as stoked about a new Volley net as the rest of them. Noya hadn't spared his request another thought and had turned back to the pandemonium around the front room full of netting. He'd never expected things to go from chaotic to flat out vulgar.

There'd been a heavy thump that gave everyone pause before Kageyama had come tumbling back down the stairs, his limbs a complete tangle and wings absolutely useless to stop the descent. Shouyou had immediately abandoned the project to dart to his side.

"Kageyama!"

"What the hell?" Bokuto had said with a cocked brow.

No one had any further chance to speak before Yaku had come flying down the steps to his side wearing a shirt that was several sizes too large, closely followed by Lev who wore _nothing_. It was quite jarring, and everyone had frozen in place.

"Jeez, Feathers, you alright? You backed up so fast, and then we heard the crash." The short cat had said kneeling beside the crow setter and redhead.

Kageyama had stared wild-eyed between the two cats, his face blazing red before scrabbling backward away from the russet cat. His eyes had quickly found the floor, his face going even more scarlett if it were possible.

"S-sorry. I didn't—know…I was just looking for rope." The crow's voice had been small, timid, and it had finally clicked in Noya's head.

In Tanaka's apparently, too, because while Noya had taken a moment to process it, the bald crow had burst out laughing, huge rolling guffaws bursting from him. And then Noya had almost collapsed beside him, his own sides in stitches.

Lev had been stark naked, still at half mast, Yaku had been wearing _very_ little beneath that over large shirt, and Kageyama had turned twenty shades of red. As the other's in the front entry had made the connection and more snickers had joined them, the grey cat's head had tilted.

"Rope? Did you have the same idea we did?" Lev had asked brightly, and Shouyou had slapped a hand over his mouth, but his wide-eyed laughter had bubbled up around it even as his face flushed to match his leveler.

"I'm out." Tsukishima had said flatly, swiftly disappearing out the front door amid raucous laughter that only grew. The russet cat had turned crimson as well and spun on the lanky cat still standing on the stairs.

"Shut up, Lev! And put some clothes on, you idiot!" He'd snapped and a frown had creased the tall cat's face.

"But you're wearing my shirt." He'd said and Yaku'd full on face palmed, a grimace settling across his features beneath his splayed fingers.

"But I'm not wearing your pants. Find them." He'd growled.

"Is the rope still safe?" Tanaka had asked the russet cat between bouts of laughter, and the small cat had hunched his shoulders.

"We never touched it, you prick." He'd grumbled.

All in all, it had ended up being nothing more than a hilariously unfortunate encounter, a happy mistake that was far more entertaining than probably ninety-nine percent of all the pranks he and Tanaka and Shouyou had pulled in the last three centuries. Noya still grins at the memory as he pulls his coat on now— the curious atmosphere Kuroo and Kenma had returned to had been quite entertaining to explain.

At the time Kageyama had out and out looked like he'd wanted to be absolutely _anywhere_ else, but after the shock had worn off a few days later— though the crow setter _still_ can't quite look either cat in the eye— he'd grown almost pensive.

His gaze that always followed Shouyou would occasionally slip out of focus, his expression going unreadable. His cobalt eyes would dilate, his focus going far deeper than just observation and Noya knew he was contemplating something either very troubling or very crude. More than once, Noya had seen him reach for the redhead, only to freeze and withdraw, a chagrined look on his face or his ears tinging pink.

The small crow could put two and two together; this morning's step forward had been only a matter of time.

He finishes hurrying Asahi into his coat and tugs him outside, the smirk still in place. He can't wait to give that self-conscious idiot crap with every new bit of progress they make; after all, Kageyama has barely scratched the surface of physical intimacy and he colors so easily.

He steps onto the porch and has to pause, because the two bouncing the ball back and forth while they wait for everyone else to join them is touching in its own way. Kageyama still has that small smile in place, and Shouyou's excitement is at a level it's never reached this early in the morning before. Kageyama's hands send high arcing tosses at the smaller boy who deftly pops them back to him in a smooth rhythm that looks as natural between them as breathing. Every time Kageyama looks at the redhead, his royal blue eyes crease with happy content and every time Shouyou looks at the former avian prince, his almond ones straight up _sparkle_ with joy.

Noya can hardly believe how obvious they are.

Yaku had been right. Once he got around to it, Kageyama'd move mountains to make sure Noya's adopted brother was safe and happy. He silently thanks the russet cat and his leveler for that last little push, no matter how unintentional and embarrassing it might have been for all involved. He tips a mental nod toward the avian heir.

 _Best of luck to you, you emotionally stunted and obstinate idiot. You fuck up, I'll kick your ass._

A/N: Ah, so here we go, FLUFF! I've been waiting since like chapter five to post this one b/c I think it is actually quite adorable. And a dose of 'brothers'. I have five. And a sister. I'm sure only children are totally fine and happy, but I feel sorry for them in that they never experience the joy (and horror, lol) of siblings. Mine were truly a blessing and I treasure every one of them. That said, I don't think I ever want kids of my own, lol

ALSO. Very NOT subtle sexual reference. I'll see myself out now.  
Have a fantastic evening guys!


	17. Year Two,80 2-2 Gioiosa e Libertà

**YEAR TWO.80 2/2 Gioiosa** **Progresso e Libertà**

I think I realize the difference now, between loving someone from afar and loving someone up close. When you see them up close, you see the real them, but they also get to see the real you. ~Jenny Han

When **Shouyou** 's coat and scarf are wet from the falling snowflakes, Kageyama finally calls it quits. The redhead could quite happily go for another hour— the feeling in his fingers isn't a necessity, but that's why he has Kageyama: to keep him from doing stupid things like getting frostbite.

He almost protests, but the crow setter just looks too perfect with the snowflakes that catch in his black hair and he easily gives in… and he _might_ still be a little enamored after Kageyama's impromptu affectionate gesture earlier this morning. Nevermind that it was probably more out of reflex if the setter's own surprise was anything to go by, Shouyou will take what he can get.

A few others stay out a bit longer, trying to keep the ball dry, but _everyone_ stays to watch the snow, whether they are playing in it or they observe from behind the large window of the front room. The game quickly dissolves into a snowball fight, and Shouyou almost wishes he were down there playing in the snow with the rest of them.

Almost.

Kageyama has wrapped him in a blanket and settled them on a chair on the porch, and while he isn't out in the fray, he can't help but feel like he has the perfect vantage point to commit it all to memory.

This is a novelty for most of the Karasuno unit, but Yamaguchi watches the falling flecks of ice with a measure of awe as well. Shouyou wonders if anyone else notices the ibis carefully taking stock of the freckled crow's reaction.

The owls don't migrate so they've seen it plenty in the past, but they don't hesitate to join in the fun. Even Lev and Kuroo get into it, dragging both the ibis and Yamaguchi out with them while the other two cats watch from behind the safety of the window. The girls wander out onto the porch to spectate, and even Daichi gets roped into the frozen melee when Suga drops a handful of slush down his back with a chiming laugh before ducking out of reach.

Hinata wants to remember it _all_ from his place in Kageyama's lap, wrapped in a comforter and watching his breath fog as it leaves his mouth.

He leans into the larger crow a little more, a laugh erupting when Noya catches a remarkably well aimed and unexpected snowball to the neck from Asahi. When Kuroo heads for the stairs with a predatory glance toward the window, the redhead snorts and glances back in time to see Kenma disappearing from sight. The golden cat dislikes cold and most types of discomfort and he has no desire to play in the snow even if his leveler might. Shouyou grins as the large black cat vanishes inside the house after him. He has to wonder if he and his leveler would be as good a team in this game as they are in Volley.

He and Kageyama and the others had returned from their last summer trip only to find Kenma and Kuroo not there. It had been alarming at first given the tense state of things between the two when Shouyou and the others had left, until Daichi and Suga had explained that they had finally fully bonded as a level pair the day before and split for a bit. The redhead had been irrationally excited for the two despite them not even being around to congratulate, much to Tsukishima's annoyance.

And then, three days later... Kageyama'd quite literally walked into that fiasco with Yaku and Lev. It _had_ been hilarious, but it had made Shouyou uneasy, too. His leveler had been monumentally embarrassed and had barely been able to meet his eyes for a few days afterword, and Shouyou had been on edge with worry that it had somehow made things unstable between them.

Kageyama had grown more free with his affection since that awful fight that still made Shouyou cringe with shame whenever he remembered it, but the crow had maintained an austere restraint with regards to anything that could be considered… more carnal. Noya had assured him time and again since that incident that Kageyama did, in fact, harbor latent feelings like that and had prodded the redhead more than once to initiate, but Shouyou had flatly refused.

He may have been frustrated to a degree he'd never believed possible with his leveler's lack of progress, but wouldn't force it. Shouyou _did_ get the feeling there was far more turning than just the need to provide and protect behind those perfect cobalt orbs, but until he could be _positive_ , he wouldn't risk anything.

He cared far too much about the crow setter to push him into a situation he might not be ready for or worse, not want at all; he would let the other boy set the pace and if it was something Kageyama wanted, it would happen...eventually. He would be content with the abundance of familiar contact, ever present concern, and falling asleep to the sound of the avian prince's heartbeat every night in the meantime.

Although, that wouldn't stop him from complaining about it to Kenma and Noya.

"Hinata." Kageyama says against his hair, the sound of his name rumbling from his chest and sending a shiver down his spine. Shouyou turns slightly toward him, but doesn't pull his gaze away from the snow match in front of them.

"Mm?"

"You remember that first time we sparred on Momma Yu's back platform?"

It's not a question he's expecting and his eyes flicker up toward his leveler's face. Kageyama is looking out across the waves with distant focus. He's thinking hard about something and Shouyou grins before turning back in time to catch Bokuto knocking the branch over Tsukishima, dislodging it's white dusting and dousing the ibis with it.

"Mm. You cracked one of my ribs." He says brightly. There's a pause and he feels Kageyama shift.

"Seriously?" He asks incredulously and Shouyou's grin widens and he nods.

"Yep!"

"Oh. Sorry. Um… why did you spar with me like you did? You're usually more passive."

The question takes him off guard, the memories it dredges up making him wonder where it's coming from. Kageyama hasn't spoken of that night since it happened… and neither has Shouyou. The memory surrounding that first boxing match sobers him.

"Do you know something Kageyama? I've only ever seen you legitimately shed tears once— the day you buried your mom." He says quietly, his own gaze going distant.

"You almost never weep or cry; it's just not something you really do. When something hits you hard, you don't cry, you shut down whatever emotion is overwhelming you. You're unique because you can turn off the fear, anger, or sorrow, and slip into sheer calculation at any given moment, processing everything without it. It makes you very dangerous in a fight because you're tough to rattle. _Very_ few things can break the control you have over your mind and body, and I saw one that night." He finishes and without even having to look, he knows his leveler is watching him critically.

"So what did you see, Hinata?"

Shouyou's gaze drops to the wood flooring of the porch. His leveler probably won't like what he's going to say.

"You were overwhelmed to the point of barely keeping back tears of rage when I saw you. For your control to have broken like that… something awful had to have happened. You were staring at me with such irate accusation, still bleeding from a run in the pits, and I knew that I was the _first_ _person_ you sought. Out of everyone you could have gone to, you came to _me_." He says his hands fiddling with the blanket that is wrapped around him.

"For me to figure out what you needed—how to help you, I had to know what happened. Conventional conversation got me nowhere so I tried another angle. You've never been great at communicating, but you had something to say; I just had to meet you on your terms for you to find the words."

Shouyou expects an annoyed response, telling him he's wrong and an idiot or something, but that isn't what happens. Instead, Kageyama's chin settles against his head.

"And the next day? Why did you tell the others you'd been sent to the pits with me?" He murmurs and the breath from his words hitting Shouyou's ear scatters his thoughts and he mentally scrambles to keep them in line.

"Eh...I did that because both of us being in trouble with your father was far less unusual than just you, and I wanted to spare you any uncomfortable questions from the others. You'd been pissed enough to come find me and pick a fight, and I didn't think you'd really want to talk about it again. So I chose to support and cover for you in the best way I could think of as a friend." He feels like he's babbling, is sure Kageyama will scoff at his rambling response.

 _He probably thinks I'm some sentimental moron_ —

"What if I want more than that?"

Shouyou blinks.

It takes him fully three seconds to process that yes, Kageyama did indeed say the words he'd heard, and another two to believe it. He glances up at the crow setter cautiously, breaking the contact to see him clearly. His leveler doesn't look back at him, his focus determinedly fixed on a point in the distance, a slight frown marring his expression.

 _He's nervous?_

If Kageyama was nervous, it meant he was dead serious and completely aware of what he'd said, had intended to say it. And it meant that he wasn't sure how Shouyou would react, had placed himself into a vulnerable position.

It's all the confirmation Shouyou needs.

 _Perhaps… Noya was right_.

A smile slowly blooms across the redhead's face, his almond eyes dancing with devious joy. As he shifts his weight, he feels Kageyama tense slightly, and his smile widens a little more as he leans in and places a gossamer kiss against the underside of Kageyama's jaw. He feels his leveler jerk and wide cobalt eyes fix on him with shock and Shouyou's face heats despite the cold. He can't school his happy grin into enough of a pout to convey petulance no matter how he tries.

"Feeling's mutual, but...you're still so slow, Tobio. You made me wait _forever_."

A/N: Ah, more FLUFF! Probably the shortest chap in Horizon- and the last one before things start getting dicey again.

So, I was asked about the aging factor in this series and it's honestly probably one of the most confusing parts about Pair/Horizon, and even I get mixed up with it, so I will try to hash out a sketchy template on their aging breakdown for you guys.

So, simple answer: roughly 60-65 years = 1 human year of aging.

Long answer: I had originally had them aging in human years when I was first blocking Pair out and they were supposed to be somewhere around 18-19 when Hinata was grounded. Craziiwolf (the wonderful artist whose art spawned this MONSTER of a brain child AU) stated they were approx 1000 yrs old give or take when Hinata lost his wings, I think? So yeah, rather than rehash out a nicer number and try and rework what was mostly a finished plot at that point, i just took them to be roughly 1100 years old now and converted all the ages to 'hundreds' and left it at that b/c Nyx is lazy (which is a lousy excuse).

When Hinata first came to the rookery, he was a little over 450 years old ~ about 7 in human terms. And I know the math is a bit fuzzy; the numbers were always supposed to be kinda round figures and not exact, and I didn't feel like doing more number crunching when I got home today, sorry.

In human years, they were close to 8 when their military training began in earnest as well as their first bout in the race pits, a little over 9 when Kageyama lost his mom, and his solo experience in the pits wasn't long after that. They were hitting prodigy status for their age at volley around 11 and able to compete in much older age groups. They had a solid like 600 years (just under 10 Years Human) of military training before Hinata's grounding. Suga has been with the unit for 1-2 human years at this point, i think? He joined about the same time that the unit started taking in-field missions (like 100ish years ago).

I apologize if this is totally confusing- honestly, it's actually caught me once or twice and and I have to go back and fix ages correctly, but I hope this helps people get a more solid grasp on their aging with respect to certain 'big' events :p

Whew. Okay, Nyx is off to try writing on half the amount of adequate sleep and a 10 hour shift brain fry. Have an excellent evening guys!


	18. Year Three 1-9 Dissolution Moirai's Whis

**YEAR THREE 1/9 Dissolution & Moirai's Whisper**

I don't believe in accidents. There are only encounters in history. There are no accidents. ~Pablo Picasso in History

The inhabitants of the beach house are just past year three at their coastal home when a message comes from Ukai, summoning Kuroo to town with all haste even as evening closes in.

The black cat returns with dire news. The shop owner has received a raven bearing an unsigned memo with two lines of urgent scrawl:

 _Five units dispatched on snake nest raid. Make yourselves scarce._

 **Ryuunosuke Tanaka** peruses the shelves laden with pretty little blown glass ornaments of a glass maker's stall in the small village market. The craftsman who made them is quite talented and it's rare to find a place like this in a small town so far off the beaten path and the coast; he absently wonders if there's one that his sister would like.

She wasn't really into flowers and cute girly things… she was far too cynical for those. She didn't wear much of what most people would term 'fine jewelry' and was picky about her earrings; she wouldn't wear any dangly type stuff. There really wasn't much that fit Saeko's particular style… but all the shiny little delicate trinkets and jewelry really were impressive.

Finally, one catches his eye and he bends down to get a better look at it. It's little more than a pin, but a moment of inspiration hits him when he remembers the way Saeko goes all out with her drum performances. The needlepoint itself is polished metal, but the simple glasswork piece affixed to its end is… almost perfect.

The graceful mitsudomoe insignia that was emblazoned across the face of her drums is captured perfectly in red dyed glass, underlined with smoky black. This small pin would be the perfect thing to keep her headwrap in place for performances. His hand absently reaches for it with quiet awe, but he pauses when his peripheral awareness stops him.

There's a second or two where he wonders if he's seeing things, because he could swear Hinata was over by a katsudon stand with Kageyama. He frowns and slowly turns his head toward the patch of orange hair beside him, utterly baffled at why the redhead would be interested in glass artwork. He catches his breath.

It's not Hinata.

But it could have been if he were a good couple centuries younger… and a girl.

It's like seeing a weird mirage, right down to the black wings that sprout from her shoulders that are flecked with white feathers on their undersides— _exactly_ like Hinata's had been.

He takes in the kid beside him as she stares at the glass trinkets with her mouth set into a flat line but her eyes focused with an awed expression. She's a little thin, but on the verge of adolescence, her bright orange hair pulled into two unruly pigtails, her shirt coated with dust from the road.

And of everything about her, that last detail is what makes him frown, because she has _wings_. Most avians didn't traverse roads or earthen routes when they could fly. He glances back at her wings, but while they seem off somehow, he can see nothing obviously wrong with them.

 _So why would she be walking?_

Was she injured?

Her eyes snap to him guardedly, suddenly aware of his critical focus, and he flinches. Almond eyes that could have been Hinata's watch him with sharp suspicion, her brows drawing down into a frown. They are creased with unease where Hinata's are often creased with laughter, but they are every bit as expressive.

"Eh… what's your name?" He asks a little awkwardly. The girl simply stares at him.

"Um… you here with someone? Parents or a brother or something?" He tries instead. Her head tilts slightly.

"... brother?" Her voice slips out almost inaudibly, uncertainly. Ryuu smiles slightly.

"You have a brother?"

Again, no response. Ryuu reaches up to scratch the back of his head and the girl flinches and takes a step backward. He instantly freezes at the wary look that crosses her face and holds his hands up in the universal gesture of 'I'm harmless'. He knows it probably doesn't help much; Saeko had always said he had a roughshod look to him that could make people uneasy.

"Eto… I have a sister." He says and glances back at the mitsudomoe pin. "I haven't seen her for a while and was thinking of maybe getting her something."

"Sister?" Her tiny voice finds him cautiously and he glances back at her with a small smile.

"Yeah. She's a drummer. I was thinking this one." He says and points to the mitsudomoe.

"What do you think?" He asks.

She watches him for a long moment before looking back at the array of pretty little baubles. She looks at the pin in question only a moment before her eyes roam across the shelves of glass. Her scan complete, she points to another piece, a small hairpin overlaid with spun glass sunflowers.

"You think that one?" He asks, surprised and she nods, the ghost of a smile tugging at her mouth that makes him think that if she really smiled with uninhibited joy— and were a boy, she'd be a dead ringer for Hinata.

"Hmm. My sister's weird. She doesn't really like flowers." He grumbles. The girl looks at him with a frown and points to the hairpin again.

 _Heh, insistently stubborn like that shrimp, too._

"That's really the one I should get her, huh?"

She nods again. He scratches the back of his head again, belatedly pleased that she doesn't shy from the motion this time.

"Ano… I don't know—" The girl stomps her foot, her wings shifting with agitation.

"Th… that one." She says with a fierce scowl. The words are curled, as if they aren't her native tongue and she seems a little unsure of them despite her conviction. Ryuu's brows rise.

 _Does she not speak crow?_

For a moment, he wants to facepalm, because he just asked some kid who doesn't speak their language to help him pick out a gift for his crazy sister. He huffs slightly before straightening. His sister would never wear it, but she'd undoubtedly find this situation hilarious.

He reluctantly points out the sunflower hairpin and hands over the few coins the grinning shopkeeper asks, feeling entirely foolish. He takes the pin and turns back to the girl only to find her grinning up at him. It takes him off guard, and he blinks as he realizes that she's pretty cute in a maddening sort of way.

"She will like." She says in her warped accent and he grins crookedly down at her.

 _Oh yes, Saeko will find this hysterical._

"Tanaka." He glances up from the girl when he hears Kuroo's voice over his shoulder.

Taking mental stock of where Kageyama and Hinata are arguing over what to bring back for dinner a couple stalls down, he turns toward the approaching cat and his leveler shadow.

"Hey, Baldy. We need to let the others know that there are snakes in the area. Pressure from the rookery a few days back is creating a ripple effect and I heard that they are on the move."

"Is it something that should concern us more than sentries?" Ryuu asks lowly. The cat tosses his hair and points to his cloudy eye.

"They aren't the savory type. They captured Kenma with the intent to sell him overseas centuries ago, and their habits haven't changed much." He murmurs, scanning their surroundings. Ryuu's eyes widen.

"They traffic _people_?" He asks with surprise and Kuroo nods.

"Among other things… and the rookery cracking down on them the last year or so has placed them under stress. Keep close to the shrimp. They aren't in the habit of abducting crows, but his red hair makes him an oddity— and all the more interesting if they realize he's a grounded bird. I need to find Daichi and Suga and inform them."

Ryuu nods as the cats disappear and he quickly finds the younger level pair with new alertness.

In a flash of insight, he remembers _another_ face framed by orange hair. If Hinata were at risk, she would be, too. He turns back to the girl only to find her gone. He frowns and glances up and down the street, searching for orange pigtails and black wings, but comes up nil. He glances back at the pin in his hand, reaffirming that he didn't lose his mind and imagine that little exchange that led to this poor decision. His frown deepens.

Pocketing the pin, he turns and heads for the shrimp and crow setter, hoping she will be fine.

They'd been fortunate that everyone had been home when Ukai had gotten the raven; tracking down half their group with the message to not come home would have been a nightmare.

When the cat had returned a half hour later at a clip, everyone had paused. When he'd started issuing orders to pack enough so they could be gone by morning, everyone had leapt. By the first gray tendrils of light the following day, they'd gathered outside the beach house, all in one place in front of their home for the last time for the foreseeable future.

Kuroo had split the group into three sects. Noya and Asahi were sent with the girls and Lev and Yaku, the short crow not at all happy about being separated from the rest of their unit. Kuroo had stressed that a split was necessary in the event that one group got caught; they would need people who would have inside knowledge of the rookery in order to attempt a rescue.

The small crow had hated it, but had grudgingly agreed. Ryuu could definitely understand how Noya felt; he'd had very much the same feeling despite understanding where the large feline was coming from.

Kuroo had then sent the owls with Tsukishima and Yamaguchi to live inside Sheru Bay itself, staying with Suga's relatives. The owls still had their dock jobs and would need to stay in order to avoid suspicion by randomly disappearing, and the other two would help with the Sugawara family store and Ukai's shop. They were on standby to maintain communication between the three groups and would be the ones to give them the all clear when it was safe to return.

Kuroo had packed up himself and Kenma to join the remainder of the former Karasuno unit with the intent of splitting them once more after they got a bit farther north. Tanaka didn't like the idea, but he had to admit that larger groups definitely attracted more attention than smaller ones.

The bald crow has the feeling that he'll be split off with Daichi and Suga while the cats remain with the avian heir and grounded redhead. It's a dull prospect; he holds nothing but respect and affection for the older level pair, but they aren't nearly as much fun as Noya and Hinata.

But that doesn't matter when it comes to their safety. As he catches up with the bickering pair, they both turn toward him.

For a moment, he sees smaller almond eyes framed by orange pigtails when Hinata looks at him, and he hopes that they will _all_ stay safe.

A/N: How about THAT little surprise? I think the only mention of this wonderfully vexing child (i'm NOT good at writing kids so this could very well go sideways) was way back in Iwa's first chapter.

Ha, so did anyone catch that I was watching YOI when I was writing this one?

Just a heads up, but I won't have internet access tomorrow so there wont be a new chapter... apologies. Stay awesome guys, have a spectacular evening!


	19. Year Three 2-9 Shared Adversity

**YEAR THREE 2/9 Shared Adversity**

A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost. ~ Marion Garrety

 **Koushi Sugawara** walks with Daichi behind Tanaka, Hinata and Kageyama. They are back in the market for food because the three in front of them can eat every meal like it's their last. He's pretty sure none of them know the meaning of portion control.

"I want yakiniku." The redhead says buoyantly, but Kageyama scoffs.

"You sound like Bokuto."

"We had pork curry last time, it's my turn to pick." Hinata says with a frown.

"What's wrong with pork curry, idiot?"

"We've had it twice in three days!" The redhead's exasperation bleeds freely into his voice.

"We could always get melonpan." Tanaka says nonchalantly, the bald crow slouching beside the two with his normal scowl.

"That's not something you make a meal out of." Kageyama mutters with a frown.

"Shut up, moron. We could, too." The redhead vouches on the bald crow's behalf.

"You'll be miserable afterword, too." The avian heir counters.

"We'd be fine, you—"

"How about ramen." Daichi says briskly and Koushi smiles.

"I could go for mapo tofu." He says since everyone else has tossed their suggestions in.

"I'd take ramen first." Tanaka says sourly. Koushi almost laughs. The bald crow dislikes most spicy foods and everyone is aware of how the thrush prefers his.

"Oh! Could I get an egg with mine?" Hinata asks, his face lighting up. Daichi half-sighs.

"You guys are expensive. Why don't Kageyama and Tanaka go hunting or something?"

"Can't. Kuroo's orders. Something about not going off by our—"

The bald crow breaks off, stopping on a dime.

Everyone turns toward him questioningly only to see him staring down at a small redheaded girl who has a hand fisted into the hem of his shirt. A little redhead girl who looks like Hinata.

Nevermind the fact that a child went up and grabbed _Tanaka_ with his perpetual grimacing scowl, Koushi's mind stumbles at the resemblance to the small spiker. Her face, her eyes, her _hair_ … even their body proportions are scary similar. And her _wings_. They have white ticking just like Hinata's did… although, they aren't quite 'right' and Koushi can't quite put his finger on why.

Everyone stares for a long moment before Tanaka moves. He drops down in front of her with a grin.

"Wow! I didn't think I'd see _you_ again! I'm glad you're alright." He says and the little girl smiles just a little. She pulls her arm from behind her back and holds out a handful of large flowers. Tanaka blinks before he laughs.

"Right. Sunflowers." He says and pulls something that catches the sunlight from a pocket.

"Like these." He says and her eyes drop to his hand. Koushi had seen him thumbing the little glass ornamental hairpin a couple nights back, and he'd been puzzled over the deep contemplative look the crow had held, but hadn't thought much more than that.

The girl lets go of his shirt and runs small fingers over the tiny flowers that match the real ones in her hand. The bald crow watches her before his mouth quirks with a smirk.

"Tell you what. Why don't you keep this one and I'll take these." He says easily, grasping the sunflowers in her hand and laying them down next to himself. Carefully leaning forward, he slips the pin into her hair just above one of her pigtails.

"There. My sister is blond so it looks better on you. The yellow will stand out nicer against the orange. Saeko will like the real ones better anyway."

Her mouth drops, her eyes going wide. She brings a hand up and quickly pulls the pin out of her hair, earning a chagrined look from Tanaka, but she doesn't see it. She stares at the pin in her hands, awe and uncertainty in her gaze. Finally, she looks back up at him.

"Mwen ka kenbe?" She asks.

The foreign words mean nothing to the thrush, nor Daichi, he can tell, but it's not the case for all of them. A soft intake comes from Hinata and the girl's gaze darts around the bald crow at the sound. Both redheads freeze. The little girl is startled to be the focus of so many faces, but Hinata looks like he's seeing a ghost.

"N…Natsu?" The word that leaves Hinata's mouth is barely audible, but the child's almond eyes that are so like his snap to the grounded sentry's face. Her jaw slacks again and she takes a step forward.

"Ou konnen non mwen?"

"Hinata… can you understand her?" Daichi asks, but when Koushi glances back at him, he's gone white. His hands come up in front of him, the slightest tremble in them, and he shakes his head and steps backward.

"Hinata? What's the matter?" Koushi asks, but the redhead just takes another step back, horror filling his face.

"There's no way." He whispers. Kageyama's gaze cuts to his face, alarm flitting in the shadow of his jaw.

"Ki moun ou ye?" The girl says with a frown.

"Shouyou?" Kageyama says right behind him, his hands finding his shoulders both in question and reassurance, because in any other scenario, the boy's pale face would put all of them on edge.

"Sh… Shou?" The child echoes, stepping around Tanaka to get a better look at Hinata who's frozen up once more.

"Shou?" She says again and then looks at Tanaka. "Frѐ?"

Tanaka's jaw works, but he shakes his head apologetically. She grabs his sleeve with a frown of concentration.

"Frѐ… _bro-ther_." The word slips out as if she isn't used to it and Tanaka's brows almost meet his shaven hairline. She points at Hinata insistently.

" _Brother_?" Everyone turns toward the grounded redhead.

"Shouyou?" Kageyama murmurs beside him. Hinata's large eyes dart up at him before locking back on the girl.

"Sѐ… lan...She died." He whimpers, the foreign words fractured and unsure.

The girl releases Tanaka and walks right up to Hinata, earlier timidness abandoned.

"Frѐ? Shou?" She says and Hinata stares at her for a long while, his face a mask of fear.

"Natsu?" He whispers again.

They all knew Hinata had had a kid sister before coming to the rookery… but given that his mother had died, they'd all assumed the girl, who'd have been no more than a toddler at most, wouldn't have had even the faintest chance. The odds that this kid could be the same child seem slim to none… and yet, their faces a rounded in the same places, their small noses turned up just a touch, even their earlobes attach the same. Combined with the overall similar _everything else_ , it really makes him wonder.

He supposes all those things _could_ theoretically just be characteristics of whatever avian species Hinata descends from, but they've never met another one like him to compare to. And the foreign language is an odd detail that gives him pause, but by the time he'd met Hinata, the small spiker had already spoken strictly in crow, so he can't draw on his memory for any feel of familiarity to the words. It has been seven hundred years since Hinata would have last seen her. She would look nothing like he'd remember.

The redheaded boy leans backward into Kageyama when the girl reaches for him, but the crow setter seems just as intrigued as everyone else when she takes one of his arms. Her brows pull down in foggy uncertainty, as if she's following an impulse more than a thought. She turns Hinata's palm up and pushes his cloak back so she can see his arm clearly up to the elbow. Her eyes pause on a scar near his wrist before it travels up the pale skin toward the joint. Hinata watches with confusion as she pulls his hand up above her head, her eyes scanning the underside of the softer skin along the inside of his forearm. They focus sharply and one finger traces another scar that curls almost invisibly up to the crease of his elbow.

"Falcon…" She says softly and Hinata flinches. He presses even more into Kageyama.

"Ou kriye." The girl's voice is quiet as she releases him, but confident and Hinata blinks.

"Hinata, what does she say?" Kageyama asks. He glances up at Kageyama like a spooked animal.

"She says I cried… I think. Kageyama, she _knows_ how I got that. Mom said we got too close to a nest and that's why the falcon attacked us. Sѐ… sister. Kageyama, she's my sister." He says, completely dazed.

"Frѐ?" She asks again and Hinata looks back at her.

"Frѐ…" He says softly.

"If she's your sister, what's she doing here?" Tanaka asks and she turns back to him.

"Mwen rete la." She says pointing down the street. Everyone looks at Hinata who shrinks back.

"I… I don't remember much. I don't know what she said." He looks so overwhelmed that Koushi takes pity on him.

"Natsu?" He tries and the girl looks up at him warily. He drops down level with her and Tanaka.

"That's your name, right?" She nods.

"So you understand crow?" Another nod.

"Shou hasn't spoken your language for a long time… can you talk a little slower?" He asks carefully, using the name she'd attached to the redhead. She looks back at Hinata.

"Mwen rete la." She repeats and Hinata frowns in concentration.

"I think… she said she lives here? I'm not sure." Her face lights with determination and she latches onto Hinata's shirt.

"Kote se manman?"

"I…" He looks up at Kageyama helplessly, but the crow setter is as useless in this situation as the rest of them.

"Manman…" He murmurs, looking back at Natsu, his face going dull, "Mom died… um… mouri?" He says uncertainly. Her face drops.

"Mouri?" She echoes.

"Wi." Hinata murmurs.

"Ou? Kote ki te ou?"

Hinata frowns as he tries to remember a language he hasn't heard or spoken in seven centuries. His face wrinkles in frustration.

"I… I don't know. I'm sorry." He apologizes and her eyes blaze to life with irritation.

"Kote ki te ou?" She says with a hard edge, frowning up at him.

"S-sorry," he murmurs again, his discomfort clearly building, "I don't remember."

"Lѐ sa sonje!" She snaps.

Long fingers close around the hand that has a hold of Hinata's shirt, and she looks up with a scowl only to meet a cobalt one with equal intensity.

"Maybe you still speak whatever language that is, but he's been surrounded by crows for centuries. If he knew what you were saying, he'd talk back. You understand _us_ , so try speaking crow." He says frostily.

Hinata looks like he wants to protest the setter's rebuke, but doesn't get the chance. The child releases Hinata and fixates on Kageyama with instant panic.

"M regrѐt!" Hinata jumps at her sharp outburst and his hands clamp onto the crow setter's wrist.

"Tobio, let go! She's sorry!"

"Wi! Sorry!" She echoes.

Kageyama blinks, his gaze flicking between the two. But rather than releasing her, Kageyama fluidly kneels beside her and lays a hand on her head, ignoring her flinch.

"I'm not angry. But if you want him to understand, you have to try, too. Got it?" He says, more subdued, maintaining an intently serious blue stare on her. She nods with wide eyes.

The avian prince releases her before standing once more. The child continues to watch him with a mix of unease and awe, but he frowns at the stares he gets from everyone else.

"What?" He mutters defensively.

"Oi. When did you figure out how to deal with kids?" Tanaka asks with narrowed eyes and Kageyama glances at him reproachfully.

"I watched you with Noya's kid siblings. Though I don't think it works as well when I try. It doesn't have the same effect." Koushi huffs with amusement.

 _Not even close. If Tanaka puts kids at ease, Kageyama makes them mind._

Natsu's disposition with each is a blatant example.

"We are going for ramen. Perhaps Natsu would like to join us for dinner? Maybe you guys can find something of a blend between the two languages?" Daichi says diplomatically and the little girl turns toward him with surprise.

"Would you like that, Natsu? We can go get some food and you can talk to Hinata some more?" Koushi asks. She looks back at him and then the bald crow with a small smile.

"Wi — yes." She says, her gaze flicking back up at Kageyama as she utters the crow equivalent. Ever cautious of the blue-eyed crow, she latches onto Tanaka's shirt as they continue down the street once more.

But that doesn't stop her from shyly attempting conversation with Hinata again. She tries to put everything into crow words, but the sentences are broken at best, her grammar all over the place and the wording jumbled. She sometimes starts in crow but completes a thought in her native language which is a trick to decipher and pretty soon, they are all engrossed in the stilted and fractured conversation that tentatively holds between the two redheads. Hinata does remember some words and occasionally tests one out, but for the most part, his memory of the language is pretty rough.

Natsu darts frequent glances up at Kageyama who is always just off Hinata's elbow, but she looks like she's relaxing. Until Kuroo and Kenma show up.

"What the hell? When did you go and duplicate yourself, shrimp?" The girl goes rigid, her grip on Tanaka's shirt turning iron.

" _Chat._ " She whimpers. Hinata looks at her with a cocked brow.

"Cat? Of course he's a cat."

"Cat bad." She says, pressing into Tanaka.

"What? No, they are our friends. They saved our lives. This one is Kuroo and this one is Kenma." Hinata says. The black cat blinks and turns to Kageyama.

"Seriously, Feathers. I feel like I'm seeing double. Where did he find a mini-me?"

"It's his sister." Kageyama says flatly.

"Really?" Kenma asks with a rare spark of interest and steps closer. Natsu shrinks back further from the golden cat's inquisitive appraisal. Kenma turns to Hinata with a soft smile.

"She _does_ look a lot like you."

"We were thinking ramen for dinner, you guys in?" Suga asks lightly. He imagines if they all seem comfortable around the cats, she will eventually relax again, too.

"Ramen? Whose idea was that?"

"A compromise!" The thrush grins.

"Meaning you guys couldn't make up your minds, so Daichi pulled rank." The black cat murmurs blandly.

"It sounds good." Kenma says, drawing the black cat's gaze with his unusual contribution of opinion.

"Whatever. If we are getting large bowls to share, there better be no more than one spicy one."

Suga laughs at the subtle barb and they are soon scouting out a ramen place. With Natsu, they are eight people and the hostess seats them in a room by themselves. Food comes and gradually, the girl relaxes again.

She remains attached to Tanaka's side regardless, mindful of the cats and still conscious of Kageyama, but she does begin a conversation with Hinata once more. Her eyes go huge when a bowl is set in front of her, her guard dropping as she inhales the meal. Her comfort level with the bald crow is baffling to the thrush, but he supposes that next to Kageyama's imposing demeanor, even Tanaka could seem… secure. Maybe it's the easing comfort level, but the moment inevitably comes when she hesitantly points to Hinata's shoulders.

"Zѐl?" She asks timidly.

Koushi had seen her glance at his empty back more than once and knew this heartbreaking question would come eventually. Hinata's face goes more serious but he still smiles. He gets up, his sister and leveler following suit. Hinata pulls off the cloak and then his shirt, explaining how he lost them and then showing her the new ones. Her pupils blow wide with horror at the scarred wing base and awe at the ridges, and perhaps it's because they are focused on wings at the moment, but looking at her now next to Kageyama with his pristine wings and Hinata with _no_ wings, it finally strikes Koushi what is wrong with Natsu's. He drags in a quiet breath.

Somehow it was all the more tragic that both siblings knew what it was to be grounded.

A/N: Ah! Apologies for missing yesterday. Have some more Natsu :)

So a couple chapters back, the title was actually in Italian and I completely missed that before posting. I meant to switch it, but I'm not sure I care enough to figure out an english equivalent now. I promise that no other chapter titles will be in another language... but surfacing in the chapter itself might be fair game lol

Kudos to whoever figures out what language Natsu speaks! I'll give a hint... if you were to hear it in any Asian country, that person would be a HELL of a ways from home. :) Have a special evening you guys!


	20. Year Three 3-9 Staggering Convolution

**YEAR THREE 3/9 Staggering Convolution**

As soon as there is love, there is danger. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Do you see it, Daichi?" The thrush asks softly with a pained lilt that catches **Kuroo Tetsurou's** attention.

Suga is watching the avian heir and two redheads with an almost mournful expression. Specifically, he watches the girl as Hinata shows which ridges in his back are which bones using an unusually patient Kageyama's wings. The girl almost reverently touches the crow setters long, sleek flight feathers, but Kuroo can't tell what has the thrush so fixated.

" _I_ can." Tanaka says darkly. Daichi nods slightly and Kuroo frowns.

"What are you guys seeing?" The thrush turns to him apologetically, having not realized he and Kenma wouldn't follow.

"Almost all avian species have the same number of main flight feathers or 'primaries'. These are controlled by the small distal bones at the ends of the wing and are crucial for flight. The secondaries run along the next long bone and can vary widely between species, but the number of primaries is usually the same with little deviance." He says with a slight edge and Kuroo cocks a brow.

"So what's wrong with her 'primaries'?" He prompts.

"She's missing a few. Ordinarily, you could assume that she's just lost them and waiting for them to grow back in. But you don't see any holes in the lines of feathers and she's missing the same number on both wings." He says quietly, a shadowy frown creasing his features. But Kuroo is still not getting what he's trying to explain.

"Meaning?" He prods.

"She's been pinioned." Tanaka growls, his scowl approaching a level that indicates he's legitimately ticked. Kuroo wants to huff.

 _The mini redhead isn't the only one speaking another language here._

"Not following the avian lingo. In ignorant cat terms please." Kuroo says with a sigh.

"She's been clipped. And not just had her feathers hacked or pulled. Someone removed the distal bone in her wings. Remove a foundational part of the wing, the feathers don't grow either. It's called pinioning and it's done with the express purpose of preventing flight. Whoever did it was experienced, because she still has a majority of them and it's only noticeable if you're paying attention." Daichi answers in a level voice and Kenma's eyes flash beside him.

"She can't fly?"

"She can probably manage a haphazard fall— enough to slow the descent for a rough landing, but actually leave the ground without using a cliff? Unlikely. She can't generate the thrust it takes to do it without those missing feathers." Tanaka mutters.

"You mean, she's grounded, too?" He asks incredulously. Suga's disquieted expression lands on him squarely.

"It might be even worse than that. Depending on when that was done, Natsu may have never flown before or at least has no memory of it… and she has no leveler to fix it."

Kuroo's brow furrows in disquiet, a frown darkening his face. Finding the shrimp's kid sister is a complication, but a workable one. Finding her grounded in such a flighty state _in this particular area,_ however, makes him uneasy.

Bringing the others into territory where fewer sentries patrolled had been a calculated risk that he was well aware of, but with the appearance of the smaller redhead, he has a gut feeling the stakes have just gotten much higher. Hinata and probably the rest of the former sentries will likely balk at leaving her behind; he can sympathize, but bringing her with may be far more difficult— and _dangerous—_ than any of them realize.

If she's grounded, it's because someone wanted her movements limited or controlled altogether, and he has a hunch on that one, too. It's been years since he'd called on old contacts… but this development makes him rapidly reconsider and sift through his memory to see who might be close by, because he's going to need information.

"Kenma!" The redhead calls, drawing his attention.

He glances at the golden cat, his gaze still momentarily distracted by the bright red wire between them even though it's been months since their bonding. He can still barely believe the small golden cat is really his. Kenma looks over to where Hinata waves at him, his sister cowering behind him with wide eyes, and Kageyama watching with the shadow of a smirk.

"Shouyou?" His leveler asks.

"She's curious about cats. Can you come over here?" Kuroo's brow arches in skepticism.

 _What do they think he is, a circus attraction?_

But Kenma glances at him furtively before rising and heading in their direction. Kuroo blinks.

 _Was that a preemptive scolding?_

Six months of being levelers and the small cat already knew when he was gearing up for a zinging rebuke? But then Kuroo remembers who called out to Kenma in the first place.

The golden cat and redheaded shrimp were _still_ thick as thieves, level wire be damned. The crow setter seemed resigned to that reality after having finally made a move himself. It was almost as if he barely noticed anymore, so long as his shrimp always returned to his side. Kenma walks up to the redhead, but one ear stays trained in his direction and Kuroo relaxes. When that ear stopped keeping tabs on him, he supposes that is when he should worry.

Hinata instructs the golden cat to sit and stay still, so Kenma folds himself up on a chair with his hands in his lap and watches Natsu timidly step forward. His tail twitches and she jumps; a smile tips Kuroo's mouth. The small cat is as curious about Hinata's sister as she is about him.

"You almost look envious, big guy." Daichi says with a grin and Kuroo scoffs.

"Hardly. I'm no guinea pig."

"Good thing. You're quite a bit more imposing than Kenma. And louder." Tanaka laughs and the black cat's brows disappear beneath his unruly hair.

" _I'm_ loud?" He asks with disbelief. Seriously, did the bald crow just tell _him_ that he was loud?

A quiet giggle recaptures his attention and his gaze snaps back to Kenma. The little girl just barely touches an ear, and it reflexively flicks at the sensation. Kuroo scowls. What the crap was this? Kenma's ears were generally off limits for _him_ let alone everyone else.

"Yo se mou!" She says excitedly and Kenma's head tilts before he looks to Hinata.

"Um… soft? I think?" He tries and her smile gets bigger.

"Soft!" She repeats. She leans closer inspecting his rounded face and looks back at Hinata.

"Bѐl! Pretty!" She says and her brother laughs.

"Beautiful." Kageyama supplies quietly and she looks up at him carefully.

"Beuful?" She asks.

"Very pretty. Beautiful." Kageyama repeats patiently and she mimics him. When he nods in approval, she points to her eyes and looks back at Kenma who watches her inquisitively.

"Beautiful!" She says to him and Kenma breaks into a small smile.

Kuroo cracks one, too. He has to agree; Kenma's amber eyes are some of the most beautiful he's ever seen. The golden cat slowly raises a hand and points to her hair.

"Bѐl." He says and her eyes light up just like Hinata's when he's ecstatic about something totally pointless.

"Bѐl!" She repeats and bursts into laughter.

"Skies. She's literally just like Hinata." Suga says softly.

"If the language barrier weren't there, you would hardly know they were different people." Daichi says.

"Can you imagine what it would have been like if they were _both_ raised in the rookery?" Tanaka asks and Daichi's face twists wryly.

"They'd have lived with Noya. Either the rookery itself would have been in shambles from all the pranks or they'd both've been banned."

"Indeed. I'm concerned where she spent that time instead." Kuroo says.

"She said she's been here."

"Yes, that's what concerns me. This area is a little rough. There are a lot of questionable people around and the fact that she's grounded makes me think she's caught up with them."

"Seriously?"

"Mm. If she's in the wrong circle, I doubt they will let her go without a fight. She probably won't willingly divulge much, but we need more information."

"So what do we do?"

"I'm going to track down a couple people I used to know, see if I can't get some intel. In the meantime, I think we should let things play out as if they're normal."

"You're sure?"

"If she's under the control of who I think she might be, we will need all the background we can get." Daichi reluctantly nods even though Tanaka looks ready to protest. He bites his tongue when the thrush's mouth firms into a resolved line.

"Ok."

Kuroo isn't surprised when he meets resistance from the shrimp later when the girl departs for the evening.

"We're just going to let her _go_?" He asks when she's almost out of sight.

"Yep." Kuroo says flatly; he's tired of pushing this point and he has people to find.

"You can't be serious." He says before turning to Daichi. "Natsu's my sister."

"We know that Hinata," the thrush says pacifistically, "she's so much like you, it's uncanny."

"Do you know she's pinioned?" He asks harshly and Daichi places a hand on his shoulder.

"We do. But something like that didn't happen yesterday. She's been grounded for some time."

"How would you know, Daichi? You've never been." He says with childish spite, his backlash unusual. It's a good indicator that the redhead has found something he will fight for without question and Kuroo's scowl darkens just a little more.

"Hinata… she doesn't move like you. She moves more like Kuroo and Kenma. I don't think she even knows _how_ to fly." Suga says and Daichi lets out a sigh.

"She's been here the last seven centuries, Hinata. She will be fine another night. Besides, we should feel the situation out; we have no idea what she's been through or if she even _wants_ to leave." He murmurs. Hinata frowns and opens his mouth once more but Tanaka beats him to it.

"It's probably a good idea to know who we might be pissing off if we just up and 'abduct' her. We should hold off until we know more." The bald crow says with a scowl, obviously unhappy with the choice as well. Decidedly outnumbered, the shrimp sinks into a sulk, but Kuroo could care less.

He'd wanted to split the group earlier, but Natsu's arrival poses a pressingly irritating dilemma at the worst of times. They are supposed to be flying under the radar to the extent of invisibility, and evading rookery capture. Now they have to somehow extract _another_ grounded avian, a child no less, from this place and from potentially dangerous people without making waves that will attract sentry attention. Depending on who has her, that could be easy… or impossible. Kuroo sighs.

They will have to postpone splitting up until they get this figured out. For now, he has information to track down.

The little girl doesn't show up the next day, much to Hinata's extreme anxiety… and to be honest, it's made Kuroo uneasy, too. Even more so that evening after he's met with a couple old contacts that speak with him at length about the criminal underbelly in the area.

Kuroo wants to kick himself for not having researched ahead of time; he'd never have brought the others here. Not that they'd had the time to research, but that's beside the point. But… they'd have never found Natsu if he hadn't.

 _Ugh, this couldn't get any more fucked,_ he mentally grumbles, because the dilemma has become a perilous problem.

They are smack in the middle of one of the biggest snake trafficking networks in the land and a few kilometers outside the little town is a pivotal trading nest. He's willing to bet his freaking tail that Natsu is under the control of one of them. What's more, he's nearly positive that none of his companions aside from Kenma have any experience with snakes. They are arguably as great a threat as a _pile_ of sentries bearing down on them.

And when he's met up with another one of his old acquaintances the following morning, his misgiving only deepens. They are all telling him the same thing: the nest they are sitting on top of is one of the most concentrated populations of snakes for leagues around— one of the largest in the country, and most captives from inland travel through it on their way to the coast. It makes him wonder whether they are being monitored— if not and Natsu returns, they surely will be soon.

The fact that she, as one of their captives, is allowed to enter town alone is also strange. In his experience, snakes didn't allow their captives out and about unsupervised. If yesterday was the second time she's shown up like Tanaka says, it sets his hair on edge, because it almost seems like she is being dangled before them as bait. Have they really been watched since they got here? If that's the case, things are rapidly getting very dangerous.

Or, more sinister yet, perhaps she's fully inducted into their criminal ring and acts as an informational conduit, scoping out potential opportunities or targets. Her youth and dual language skills could be used to swiftly endear herself to a target, get close enough, and then be able to eavesdrop over pertinent information under the guise of not understanding the common crow lexicon. It won't work as well with _them_ because Hinata can understand some of her foreign babble, but the fact that she's his sister presents an entirely different opportunity to evaluate them as a target; family ties will make it that much easier for her to earn their trust and confidence.

If she _is_ one of their tools, she's an exceptional actress and he'd never questioned her appearance as more than a lucky break before finding out about the veritable snake hotbed they've landed in. Kuroo doesn't want to think she's capable of that at her age, wants to give her the benefit of the doubt, but years of experience with snakes and an unhealthy drive to protect what he cares about won't let him drop his suspicion and rule it out.

He doesn't mention any of that to Hinata, though.

The shrimp is already agitated and ready to go looking for her, he has no desire to set him off on a poorly planned impulse based entirely on ancient irrational emotions. And if the redhead takes off, the rest of them will follow, Kenma notwithstanding, which means he will, too, no matter how idiotic and suicidal that impulse the grounded kid gets. Kuroo scowls. For whatever reason that he can't imagine, the redhead is a key component that binds their entire group together, and they would all follow him over a proverbial cliff if he got it in his head to do something so stupid, and the black cat would be stuck trying to mitigate the resulting damage.

When Natsu finally materializes again that second day around midafternoon, he breathes a sigh of relief, having felt like he's dodged that bullet for the moment. Her reappearance also gives him the opportunity to evaluate her actions and demeanor for authenticity, and his initial impression that she wasn't acting is reinforced.

She tags along through the market, staying close to the young level pair and Tanaka, even occasionally chattering shyly to Kuroo's golden leveler despite how she steers clear of himself. Her eyes light up when she is able to clearly communicate with her brother, and her face smooths into cautious respect around Feathers. She watches Suga and Daichi with curiosity and Kenma with mild awe, and she hangs by Tanaka at complete ease and without fear.

She is comfortable enough with the offbeat bald crow that when he stops back in at the glass maker's place to pick up a small pin with a mitsudomoe insignia, she even tells him in her broken crow dialect that no girl would like it. Tanaka grins at her crookedly, the feral look that is half grimace and half insane lunacy, and she merely watches him with a nonplussed expression when he wryly tells her that she's never met his sister.

She runs through such a wide range of emotions so fluently just like Hinata, that Kuroo is positive there's no way she could possibly fake them all so perfectly. The black cat's gaze darkens minutely. So if she isn't acting, then what is going on?

His mind immediately concludes that she's bait, set to lure them in for capture. Why else would the snakes allow one of their captives out unsupervised in the nearby town?

When she bids them goodbye that day again with Hinata still on edge but more willing to release her this time, the black cat's hackles rise at every sound. He half expects to have a sack wrenched over his head every time they round a corner, is waiting for a knife to find his gut and spill his intestines, is subconsciously planning the most efficient method of retaliation, his limbs quivering with nervous tension.

Kenma glances at him sideways more than once, but nothing happens.

When Natsu shows up again the next day, he can't make sense of it and as soon as she leaves a few hours later, immediately puts out a raven to the one person he'd sworn he'd never reach out to again.

This particular source often wanted far too much in exchange for the information he could provide, but Kuroo is at a loss. Despite the jerk having tried to kill him the last time they saw each other, the black cat knows no one else with as solid connections. It was precisely that run in that had forced him to pull back and work more from the shadows at eradicating the snake network.

Sending that bastard a raven is as much a gamble as rushing a snake nest blind. For all Kuroo knows, he'll still be pissed enough that he'll tip off the snakes to their location… but they _need_ counsel before attempting anything. The black cat is banking like hell that a few centuries will have been enough for him to have cooled off.

Natsu periodically comes back to talk to them the next few days, even building up enough courage to approach _him_ at one point. The little girl has lost her fear of Kenma and the others and she follows his golden leveler around as often as she does Hinata and Kageyama or Tanaka. She even dozes for a few minutes in Sugawara's lap after a meal.

He's caught her staring at him more than once and knows it's probably the cloudy eye. It is quite distracting for pretty much everyone at first and she's a child, so something unexpected or out of place draws attention that much more. He's quite used to the stares and initial unease it generates; he _has_ only had one working eye for centuries. It's one of the few ways she actually differs from her brother.

Kuroo knows the grounded former scout had noticed it off the bat, but aside from a moment's focus, it never gripped Hinata's attention in the same way as most everyone else. The redheaded boy had simply accepted it without question and it had never given him pause again. The black cat wonders offhandedly if Hinata has selective vision like some people have selective hearing.

But when he sets down a glass after a long drink only to find Natsu off his shoulder, staring intently at him, he turns to face her fully and she jumps.

"Gonna have to come up with another nickname for you, huh. Shrimp's already taken and you're smaller than he is." He murmurs with a smirk.

She understands most of what they say, but she doesn't always answer in crow. It's as if whoever took care of her the last several centuries made sure that she _understood_ crow, not necessarily that she could _speak_ it— like she was trained to understand what was being said to her, but to never give a response.

And there are certain topics she won't touch. Hinata's tried more than once to ask about her home and the people she lives with, but she shuts down immediately with a frown and offers nothing. The redheaded girl watches him uneasily and glances to Kenma beside her.

"Don't worry. He won't do anything. He won't get lucky tonight if he does." His golden leveler says flatly. Kuroo blinks even as he hears one of the crows spit their drink across the table— probably Feathers. Suga clears his throat.

"There are little ears here, Kenma." He says with mild admonishment and Hinata nods violently.

"Yeah, that's my sister." Kuroo huffs in amusement.

"A little small to be dealing threats, aren't you?" He murmurs, unable to withhold the smirk at his leveler's not so subtle warning.

The reference seems to go over her head in any case, because she's back to watching him intently, a hand drifting toward his face. He supposes that even if she had a perfect grasp on crow lexicon, she still might be too young to have understand the vulgar comment.

Her hand pauses and she takes a deep breath, her cheeks puffing. Mental resolve manifesting as a slight frown, she reaches up and brushes the stray locks away from his dark eye. She holds her breath until she takes her hand back, watching him with awe.

"What happen?" The question ignites the memory like a spark to gunpowder.

A heart pounding chase, a knife he didn't dodge in time, the light permanently disappearing from one side.

"Got attacked by a snake." He says, his smirk never wavering. But _her_ composure does. She stiffens just a touch, her frown smoothing into a bland expression.

"Snake?" She echoes.

"Mm. He got in a lucky shot." Her round eyes watch him with rapt attention.

"How you get away?" Kuroo inadvertently glances at Kenma.

Another flashback, this one of his leveler— quiet, apathetic Kenma— leaping at his attacker, all teeth and claws while he'd reeled under shock and the blood that ran from his face. She's still a kid, so he imagines he should keep this age appropriate.

"I had backup." He says with a cocky grin.

"Backup?" She echoes, not sure about the term.

Kuroo blinks only to see the flash of the small golden cat tossed to the side, the snake pulling a bloody hand away from his ribs. Kuroo only remembers seeing white before his fists were closing around the snake's throat, the fact that one eye was dark never even registering. Kuroo hadn't just throttled the reptile; he'd snapped his neck before the snake had had a chance to react. Heh… definitely not kid friendly stuff.

"Yeah… I wasn't alone." Natsu's almond eyes drop with a slight frown.

"Oh. Um… you do miss it?" She asks softly and Kuroo cocks a brow at her and huffs with amusement, her broken crow getting easier to decipher.

"What, depth perception?" He asks with a grin and she looks up at him with a blank look even if he catches Daichi smirking from the corner of his eye.

"It took me awhile to get used to it," he says, fixing her with a solid gaze, "but I'll let you in on a secret. When you lose something critical, other things get stronger to cover the deficit." Her head tilts, her brows scrunching in confusion. Kuroo points to his dark eye.

"I don't have two good ones anymore, but my ears got better. It took a while but it doesn't affect me anymore and I can gauge distances just by listening. My ears are so sharp, I hear _everything_ now, even the quiet sighs of silver stars." He says with a sly smirk at Sawarmua and Sugawara.

 _Oh, yes, I'm quite aware of your latest experiments. You might be worlds better at keeping it under wraps than the small rabid cat and the juvenile tall idiot, but I know you sought out Akaashi on knots, too, Daichi._

He laughs internally at how the larger crow's expression goes blank while the thrush's face pinks, and the three younger former sentries' heads snap in their direction.

 _Oh, you treasured their innocent ignorance? My bad._

Kuroo bites down on a devious chuckle before turning back to Natsu who's conveniently missed the entire exchange.

"Hinata lost his wings, but he's far more sure-footed now. Tie up any of the others for a day and none of them will have the same grace and confidence." He continues blithely, his mind drifting back to the volatile pair he and the others work so hard to protect. "You can lose something precious, but if there is someone there to help you, you can always get through it."

Gods knew how the avian heir and the redhead had clung to each other as the only safe anchor in a world that had shattered around them, how they still reach for each other even now. He doubts either of them would have made it without the other beside them. He imagines it's the same for the thrush and Daichi, or the owls or other two cats; he knows that he'd probably have bought it himself long ago if it hadn't been for Kenma.

Small but round almond eyes watch him with a measure of wonder… and then turn watery.

Kuroo recoils as a tear slips down her cheek, and Kenma instantly places a hand on her back with a very 'what the flying hairballs did you do, jerk' glance. It's the same reaction as Hinata and Tanaka and they instantly move to surround her.

But Kuroo nearly crawls out of his skin when she instead, ignores them and reaches out with a small hand and latches onto his shirt.

"Mwen swete mwen te gen ki." She whimpers, a hand coming up to rub her eyes and

Kuroo is at a loss; he has no clue what she says. But whatever he said is obviously upsetting her and he awkwardly raises a hand to her head in a bid to comfort her. Crying kids is probably at the bottom of his list of things he knows what to do with… right next to his expertise on flying. But it seems to help and he reaches for Feathers' glass of milk and holds it out to her.

"Hey, it's okay, munchkin. Here." He murmurs, ignoring the avian prince's affronted scoff. She wipes her face with an arm before looking at the proffered drink for a long moment.

And then Kuroo loses all train of thought as she climbs up into his lap, her flailing wings nearly knocking the glass from his hand. When she gets settled, she reaches for the cup, and Kuroo forfeits it without a fight, completely floored. He finally looks back up at the others feeling more helpless than the days right after losing his eye, and they are all watching him with amused surprise and a sullen frown from Kageyama.

"Eh, don't drink too fast." He murmurs self-consciously and he hears Tanaka smother a laugh.

He glances at Kenma for any input he might have on how to help him out here, but the golden cat has a small smile to match the others'. He lets out a light sigh; there will be no help from him. The girl stays glued to his lap through the rest of the meal, eventually falling asleep to the mirth of the bald crow who is enjoying his discomfort far too much.

"Having fun, Cat?" Suga says quietly with a laughing smile.

"She's all yours, if you want." He murmurs, but makes no move to pass her off, because for the first time in the last hour, she's _quiet_.

"You look like you are getting comfortable. Maybe you want one of your own." Daichi says with a smirk and Tanaka snorts. The black cat deadpans.

 _Yeah, yeah. Get your digs in for that remark I made earlier, I got it._ He mentally grouses. Rolling his eyes, he turns to Hinata.

"Oi, what did she say before, Shrimp?" He asks. The redhead's expression falters and his gaze drops to his sleeping sister.

"She… I'm not sure, but I think she said... I think she meant she wishes she had someone like you or us."

Kuroo's breath escapes him and his chest tightens.

He finds her sleeping face, his awareness of the child's dead weight against his arm acutely registering in his head. Her face is slack and mouth open just a bit; he's sure she's probably drooling like Hinata does when he sleeps. She's so small, her little wings folded against her shoulders and he can feel any resolve he has crumbling. The innocent trust she displays just by crashing out around them isn't lost on him and he can feel the urge to protect kicking in. His gaze meets his golden leveler's with a tired focus.

If she's a plant for the snakes, they are _so_ fucked.

A/N: SO... this Kuroo chapter probably wasn't as entertaining as others, but I think it really highlights a lot more of the shifting, dangerous world around them as well as brings to light some of Kuroo's more... shadowy skills. You get the barest glimpse into his past before meeting Hinata and Kageyama, get to see how calculating and critical he can be.

So, several people guessed correctly about Natsu's native language: Haitian Creole. French is one of the cornerstones to it, but it definitely has its own twist. To keep things honest for myself, Natsu isn't exempt from hardship, because the reality of an adult world is a harsh mistress and children don't escape it. The innocent frequently pay the most for our world's indiscretions. Ha, I'm never having kids. Have a fantastic evening guys! :)


	21. Year Three 4-9 Deviation

**YEAR THREE 4/9 Deviation**

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. ~Michael Jordan

A raven comes for Kuroo the following morning bearing two words.

"Tavern and Nightfall? What's that mean?" **Ryuunosuke Tanaka** grumbles with a scowl.

"An informant. His information is reliable and will be invaluable if we want to get a clear picture of what we might be up against."

Somehow, Ryuu isn't surprised that the black cat has such connections _or_ that he's been contacting them. Actually, he's grateful for the cat's networking skills; the bald crow has become more and more invested in rescuing Hinata's sister from whatever mess she's caught up in. The kid was, frankly, adorable. If you could get her over her initial misgivings and nervousness, the girl turned into this bubbly, happy child on the border of adolescence with expressive almond eyes that light up with excitement and fire.

Ryuu couldn't help but think she was even _more_ colorful than Hinata with how she could get aggressively stubborn, and could go on a full offensive where his former unit mate was usually more confrontation averse. If Hinata was the sun, warm and shining, Natsu was fire itself, blazing and brilliant. Being around Hinata felt like coming home; being around Natsu felt like the journey there.

So many of her antics were hilarious and cute at the same time that Ryuu sorely wishes Noya were here; they'd have had so much fun with this kid.

She'd woken last night after a good half hour in Kuroo's arms and launched herself out of his lap and tackled Hinata across the table. He distinctly remembers Daichi swiftly snatching up his and Suga's cups out of her way in her rush to get to her brother, where she sat for several moments attempting a conspiracy with him in their goofy foreign language that sounded like they had honey in their mouths. Hinata had had to try several different words, much to her amusement, before they had both turned and vaulted back over the table and set upon Ryuu with enough force that he was knocked to the floor.

"Oi, what the—"

"Language, Tanaka." Suga had said with a grin even as he'd allowed himself to be manhandled by Hinata just to be sure that he wouldn't accidently whack the other child who'd attacked him.

When Hinata had him pinned to the floor on his stomach, Natsu had sprawled across his shoulders and reached for his head. When he'd felt little hands run over the fuzz that was starting to grow back in followed by a shrill giggle, he'd scowled.

"Oi. This ain't a petting zoo, you brats." He'd groused and everyone had laughed— even Kageyama's deep chuckle had joined Hinata's chiming cackle.

The tittering coming from the little girl on his back had tugged his grimace into a grin and he'd rolled to the side and promptly reversed the power standing and snagged both Hinata's arms in one of his so he could grab at the wiry little girl. She'd squealed and leapt out of range only to run right into Kageyama who'd caught her up and promptly suspended her upside down by one foot with a devious smirk.

The normally reserved crow joining in had been a pleasant surprise, and Ryuu had grinned wolfishly as the black-haired setter had held her out within easy reach, her little wings beating madly and her hysterical screeches filling the room. Ryuu had deftly evaded her thrashing wings and arms to run fingers across her belly, laughing as she'd scrunched herself up and squirmed helplessly.

"Oi, Sawamura." Kageyama had murmured drawing Daichi's attention where he was just standing with a drink in hand.

The black-haired crow had adeptly tossed the girl toward him and he'd scrambled to get rid of the glass and stretch his arms out to catch a very discombobulated little redhead who still laughed nonstop, earning a sharp gasp from Suga.

"Kageyama! You don't throw children!"

"She ain't a child, Sugamomma, she's a kid. They bounce pretty good." Kuroo had said with a chuckle and Hinata had collapsed in bright peals of hilarity making his leveler smile.

She'd stayed quite some time— longer than she had any other day so far, and Natsu had nearly worn herself out again by the time she'd gone home for the night. When she returns today, she's just as buoyant and bouncy as ever. They've wound up back at the glass maker's shop, Natsu sitting comfortably up on his shoulders.

It hadn't been Ryuu's plan since he'd already picked up the mitsudomoe pin for his sister _and_ an extra piece for the girl on his shoulders, but Hinata had drawn back to it this time, musing on a gift for Momma Yu. As they peruse the glass maker's shelves, Natsu takes a swing at the black head of hair right next to him, but Kageyama is as alert as ever; he dodges and Ryuu's own head is jerked sideways as she grabs on to maintain her balance.

He understands now why everyone else had turned her down for the shoulder ride: anyone with hair would likely have a bald patch or five after this game. He latches onto one of her ankles to steady her and turns to eye her over his shoulder with a scowl.

"Easy on the neck, Munchkin. I have to use that yet." He grumbles, Kuroo's nickname having already gained traction.

"Baldy?" She says brightly and Tanaka's frigid glare cuts to the damn black cat where he smirks at the corner of the stall, knowing exactly where she picked up _that_ name, too.

 _Stupid feline._

"What?" He mutters sullenly.

"What's munchkin?"

 _Ah, here we go._

"It's what you are." He says.

"Am not."

"You are."

"No, am not."

"You are, you are, you are." He says, his mouth pulling back into a grin.

"No, you are."

"I'm too big to be a munchkin. And I don't have orange hair. Or pigtails." He says.

"What do you think you are doing, kid?" A voice breaks across them and Natsu goes rigid on his shoulders.

As they turn as one to find the speaker, the little girl jolts and promptly scrambles off of him as if he'd just zapped her. It alarms him for a moment and he reaches out to catch her arm and make sure she doesn't overbalance and hurt herself on the drop down. As soon as she's on the ground, she's pulling out of his grasp frantically and Ryuu finally looks up to see the new face.

His blood chills as he realizes what the person in front of him is.

His nose lacks prominence and his ears are almost flush against his skull, but for the most part he'd seem completely normal… if it weren't for his eyes. Vertical slit pupils split golden irises in very circular sockets and Ryuu knows without a doubt what this man is: _snake_.

Natsu nervously says something to the man as she pads quickly toward him; the bald crow thinks it sounds like a groveling apology. The snake glances up at them with a genial smile that makes Ryuu's feathers prickle.

"We've been wondering what's been keeping her in the afternoons. My apologies for the hassle she's caused." He says and Ryuu has to give Daichi mad props for his casual composure when he answers as naturally as if he saw this guy every day.

"Not at all. She's an excellent kid with impeccable manners." He says with a smile. The snake grins.

"That she is, but she also knows better."

Ryuu finds Natsu hunched behind the snake, her gaze fixed on the ground and her expression frozen. The man holds a hand out to her.

"Come on pipsqueak. Time to go home." The little girl automatically reaches up and takes the hand without hesitation and Ryuu wants to argue, but Hinata beats him to it.

"Her name's Natsu." He says flatly, his gaze snapping with intense focus. The snake turns back to look at him.

"Not when she's in trouble, it's not. She knows not to talk to strangers. You might all be upstanding people, but not everyone will be so benign." He says with a hard edge— a touch of warning despite that smile that is still firmly fixed in place. Natsu watches them with wide eyes and sucks in a breath when Hinata takes a bold step forward.

"She's m—"

" _Non_!" She yelps and Hinata freezes. They've been around her enough the last few days that even Ryuu knows what that means.

"Yo ap fè ou mal! Mouri!" She rattles off, and though he doesn't catch any of the first part, he remembers that last word as one of the first from their initial meeting.

"Ou pral mouri!"

"Cripes, kid, what's your deal?" The snake scolds and she jumps. Ryuu glances at the others.

Daichi and Suga watch her with surprise, Kageyama with zero expression, Kuroo with an unreadable look and Kenma just behind him with wide eyes. But the one that gets Ryuu is Hinata. The older redhead sibling stares at her, his mouth still open and too late, Ryuu realizes his reaction is too unusual, and the snake notices as well.

"Wait…" He says curiously, taking a step back in their direction. "Can you guys understand her?" Hinata jolts, but it's Ryuu who leaps for the reins on this one. They need to keep this encounter as short as possible so they can find a chance to regroup.

"No, we've been wondering about that ourselves. What language is that?" He asks and he catches Hinata look askance at him.

 _Be chill, you little shit_. He wants to growl as the snake shrugs.

"Beats me. We've been trying to figure that out for centuries."

"Bummer. Well, take care. We will see you round Munchkin." He says, finding her large frightened almond eyes with his trademark grimacing grin. "Promise."

The snake nods with a smirk and turns away with Natsu's wrist still firmly wrapped in his hand, the little girl putting up no fuss as he leads her away. But every time she glances back at them, her wide-eyed expression tugs at Ryuu's gut and it's all he can do to keep his feet rooted to the ground and not follow.

But that's too tall an order for her brother. The snake and small avian songbird are nearly to the edge of town when the redhead stalks past him, his steps stiff.

"Hinata—" His leveler says, but a large hand that isn't Kageyama's closes on his collar and roughly drags him backward. Hinata turns blazing eyes up at Kuroo as he tugs him along by his shirt.

"Let me go."

"No." Kuroo says bluntly, his strides never faltering as he in no uncertain terms, ushers the redhead between a couple buildings. And it's strange for the cat to be so short; given the circumstance, he seems the most level and everyone drifts after them.

"Fucking cat, I said let me go." Hinata growls and Ryuu knows by the profanity that he's irate even as he follows the pull of his shirt with deceptive calmness.

The cat yanks on him and pins him up against a wall, his face its own mask of fury. Kageyama moves ahead of him, reaching for Kuroo, but Daichi catches his sleeve with a shake of his head.

"And I said no." Kuroo says lowly. Hinata's feet are off the ground, his hands gripping Kuroo's arm, but his blazing almond gaze never leaves the cat's uneven gold one.

"That's my sister." Kuroo scoffs in the face of the Hinata's impressively manic expression that would make any of the rest of them uneasy.

"Listen, Shrimp, and listen well. I protect me and mine. You are mine. Your sister is yours." He says. Hinata's mouth opens to say something, but Kuroo jerks a finger sharply in front of Hinata's face.

"She's yours. That makes her mine, too. I never intended to leave without her." He growls. Hinata's brow twitches, and then he blinks as it registers and his forehead smooths with surprise.

"You didn't?"

"No. Now I need you to use your head. These guys are awful people. They will do to you feathered bastards what _his_ father did to my clan." He says, pointing to Kageyama without even looking at the crow setter.

"You'll be an exception though; your red hair marks you as something foreign. If they capture you, they'll enslave you, and ship you overseas to sell to the highest bidder. You probably won't make the boat trip though, because _him_?"

Another jab in Kageyama's direction.

"He's a crow. They are a nothing special around here and once they are done torturing him, they _will_ kill him, which means you die, too. Not enough of a picture for you? How about your sister." He murmurs, dropping the redhead back to the ground so he's on his own two feet once more, but Kuroo's hand stays firmly fisted in his shirt, insurance in case he decides to do something stupid.

"She was grounded in such a way as to still appear like she _wasn't_. That means she's more valuable to them the more 'complete' she is, otherwise they'd have hacked her wings at the main joint. They want her to maintain the appearance of an 'unspoiled' and perfect avian while still having a way to control her. If you still have trouble figuring out why, let me spell it out for you. They've been 'taking care' of her for centuries until she's old enough to sell as an exotic to some harem house or lordling. That is how snakes operate. You're actually quite lucky she's still here after all this time." He says in a frosty monotone voice.

Ryuu feels his own gut drop as he listens to Kuroo speak. There's no banter or levity in his tone, his even drawl more than enough to tell them all that these aren't just _stories,_ but straight and brutal _facts._ But the black cat is continuing before anyone can offer any input.

"All that aside, I will remind you that they are _snakes_. They do not need to see or hear you in order to know you're there, you just need to be close enough. You can't just blindly rush in here without a good plan; that will get us all killed. The only way to take a snake nest is with surprise and numbers. We might have surprise, but we don't have numbers, so you better have a _damn_ good plan if you want us all to survive." He says finally releasing the wide-eyed redhead.

"So tell me Shrimp, how exactly were you thinking of rescuing your sister? And if you say you were going to 'wing it', your leveler will have full license to hit me, because I'm going to _clock you_." He finishes with a scowl.

Hinata stares up at him for a long moment, his jaw hanging loosely before his almond eyes find the ground self-consciously.

"I… I didn't have one." Kuroo scoffs, his hand sliding up around the back of his neck.

"Didn't think so." The cat's dark tone makes Ryuu think he's seriously trying to keep taking that swing.

"So what do we do?" Hinata asks subdued.

"We were the targets in their game. Natsu was just bait." The cat says sullenly.

"Then this is the trap." Daichi says with surprise and Kuroo's head lolls in his direction.

"Very good, Sawamura. Their end goal would be to get us to follow Natsu to a set location so they can surround us. But, I have no intention of playing into their hands."

"We can all fight, so what's the issue?" Ryuu asks with a frown, drawing the black cat's salty gaze.

"The issue is that we are on top of one the biggest snake nests in the northern provinces. I haven't been able to get a reliable fix on their numbers; I've heard anywhere from three to four hundred snakes are holed up there. Unless you all have it in you to take out between thirty to fifty guys, that's a massive hurdle."

 _Oh. I suppose that complicates things just a bit._

"What about Natsu?" The thrush asks uncertainly.

"Like I said before, she's valuable to them. They won't irrevocably harm an asset unless backed into a corner, so she will be fine for the moment. The greater worry would be that they move her and we lose track of her, but I don't think that will happen either. The snake was far too confident which means they don't see us as a threat."

"So we are just going to leave her there?" Hinata asks with a hard set to his jaw.

"No, we'll get her out. It's just not going to be on their terms."

"You have a plan then?" Ryuu asks.

"I have an idea, but it's going to take patience from _you_ ," Kuroo says with a pointed look at Hinata, "and a lot of faith from everyone else that I know what I'm doing. I've dealt with snakes before."

"So what do we need to do?" Daichi asks.

"Right now, we are flying blind; we won't have a chance without some solid information. First thing is to connect with my contact at the tavern tonight. If we're lucky, he'll show up."

A/N: So, Natsu has been disobedient, and Hinata is impulsive. It's a weekend and I'm late tonight, sorry guys. I wasn't home from 7 till 7 today and this is still pretty rough, so I apologize if there are errors. Instead of working on finishing this series, I spent my day avoiding gaggles of chaotic kids on the slopes and then got stuck in traffic on the way back home.

Thank you for reading, and have a stellar evening, ya'll!


	22. Year Three 5-9 Reciprocity & Amity

**YEAR THREE 5/9 Reciprocity & Ensuriant Amity**

If I could make this go away, I would. If I could stand in your place, I wouldn't hesitate. But I'm left with only one choice, and that's to stand by your side through the end. I won't waver, I can promise you that. ~Patch; Becca Fitzpatrick

Kuroo's expression is flat as they approach the tavern and **Koushi Sugawara** wonders about the contact they are supposed to meet. He's never seen the cat so stiff-backed and visibly on edge.

But then… they've all been on edge.

The last few hours since the snake came for Natsu have passed like sap in winter, and everyone has been wrapped in the same circling thoughts after Kuroo'd lectured Hinata about their scaly opponents. The little girl was caught in the grasp of a bunch of these awful monsters; how were they going to get her out?

Hinata hadn't been able to stay still and had finally given up an hour in and begun a pacing loop around the village, his leveler shadowing him silently with his own wings pulled a little more taught with unease. Daichi had sat down with the larger cat and asked him everything he could possibly think of about snakes, determined to be as prepared as possible. Tanaka had settled at the table as well, his gaze fixed vacantly at a wall as he listened to Daichi and Kuroo, but his projected tranquility didn't fool the thrush. The bald crow's muscles running into his limbs were outlined in chiseled definition, betraying his tension, and Koushi'd known that the only reason he remained at that table instead of outside making village rounds with Feathers and Hinata was by sheer force of will.

The only one who'd seemed mostly unfazed was Kenma, so it was him that Koushi had gravitated toward to help keep himself more calm. When the thrush had asked him about it, the small cat had shrugged.

"This is how it always was back when Kuroo still actively hunted snakes. He was always gathering information and planning out the next move. This might not actually be the toughest rescue he's attempted." He'd murmured. Koushi had turned to stare at Kenma with surprise.

" _Not_ the toughest? If this isn't, then what was?" The golden cat had glanced at him briefly.

"Mine. For this to be as ugly as that was, he'd have to lose the other eye."

" _That's_ how he got that?" Kenma'd nodded.

"He was lucky, that was all. The snake had two blades; it was sheer chance that he got him with the one not tipped with venom or things would have been drastically worse. Kuroo's speaking from experience when he says not to bull rush these guys. He might be fine now, but it took him a few years to adjust."

Suga'd promptly jumped when a knife had embedded itself in the floorboard beside them, and the only reason he didn't leap defensively to his feet was because Kenma hadn't batted an eye. He'd looked straight up unimpressed, actually, and Koushi'd glanced around in surprise. Nothing else in the room seemed to have changed; Daichi'd still been speaking with Kuroo and Tanaka'd still been resolutely studying the wall.

"Eh?" He'd asked with confusion and Kenma had simply stared blandly at the black cat.

"He gets cranky when I bring up his poor decisions." The golden cat had said with a bored expression, and when Koushi'd looked back at the larger feline, sure enough, an ear had been fixedly swiveled in their direction. The black cat hadn't been joking when he'd said he heard everything. Koushi's face heats slightly at the memory of how the cat had pointed that out the other day.

When the sunlight had begun to angle and the restless younger level pair was just coming by on about their eighth lap around the little town, Kuroo had finally stood. Kageyama, Hinata, and Tanaka had been right there at his elbow in an instant, but the cat had huffed at them with amusement.

"You guys are awfully jacked when we're just going to find something to eat." He'd said and Hinata had balked immediately.

"What about the tavern and your contact?" Kuroo had fixed him with something of a very 'Tsukishima' smirk.

"Does it _look_ like nightfall?" The redhead had scowled up at him, his nerves clearly fraying by the moment.

"It will be alright Hinata. We wouldn't want to go into some fight on an empty stomach, anyway." Koushi had said and Hinata had caved with a sullen scowl.

Thankfully, the meal had been brief and little more than pausing at street vendor stalls; the thrush didn't think the redhead would have been able to sit through a full meal. Now as the last light is falling, they follow Kuroo to the tavern, everyone alert and on edge.

Koushi doesn't think he's ever seen the black cat quite so tense, what with the way his shoulders are pulled rigidly into line instead of their normal half-slouch, and his hands curl into loose fists instead of relaxed against his sides. Koushi wonders if he realizes that his unease is gearing up at least the youngest three avians; Daichi appears as controlled as ever.

But Kuroo pauses just outside, an ear cocking askance. Then the black cat fluidly kneels to the gravel outside the entrance, appearing to study the pebbles and grit, the ear still twitching off to the side. Koushi wonders if anyone else feels as awkward as he does, watching the large feline run a hand through the dust as if he were contemplating the meaning of life.

And then, quick as a viper, he spins and whips a small stone in the direction his ear had been twisted. It ricochets off the limb of a tree as movement from its branches draws their attention. The cat stalks toward it as a graceful form drops to the ground, the man fleet of foot and gracefully agile. Deep red hair frames his sharp face, but black triangular ears poke through the auburn locks. His rusty gold eyes take them in with hard focus.

The man turns and leads them to a secluded area down a dim alley before turning to face them once more. The low light thrown from the first evening lanterns casts the sharp angles of his face in steep shadow as his head tilts toward the black cat.

"Bold of you to bring people with you. You must not value their lives much." He says conversationally and Kuroo scoffs.

"Save it, Mutt." His insulting greeting is brisk and Koushi's eyebrows rise.

 _A canine?_

The man's face darkens just a touch but his tone remains even when he addresses Kuroo as he comes to stand in front of him.

"I'm _very_ selective of my contacts, Tetsurou, as you are well aware. It's the reason I've survived this long, and I will remind you that it is expressly because of you that that list is so short." Kuroo rolls his eyes, but Koushi's brows draw down just a bit.

 _Tetsurou? These guys must have been…_ close _back in the day. Not even Kenma calls him that. He doesn't think he's even_ heard _that name more than once in the last three years._

"That was centuries ago."

"And you weren't the one who was under scrutiny for the next three hundred years."

"No, I just had to drop off the grid to avoid a knife in the ribs." Kuroo rebuttals and the man's eyes narrow.

"You almost got me killed. I had to shut down nearly all communication lines and go dark. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to balance movements without igniting suspicion? Or the scope of damage you idiocy unleashed? You're as much a reason for the snakes' resurgence as that blasted Crow regime. I've ensured others' silence for far less."

"Tch. Don't think I forgot the price you had for mine."

"Obviously wasn't high enough; you're still around."

"Enough, fox. You didn't come all the way out here to trade threats."

"Indeed. I came to see if you really did escape with your skin that day— though you are down an eye. And your choice in company has changed. What do you need, Cat?"

"Information."

"Obviously. What are you offering?"

"We will take down the nest that's here."

"Bull. The last figure I had for this place is a couple years old so it's no longer accurate. Since sentries have cracked down in the southern areas, this hub has boomed. I don't care if your friends are all highly trained mercenaries. You and six…" He says before eyeing the golden cat disdainfully, " _five_ people won't have a chance against four hundred snakes— and I guarantee that's a low number. I hope you have something better or this was a wasted trip." Kuroo releases a huff of frustration, and Koushi frowns at the odd slight against Kenma. But neither he nor Kuroo even seem to notice it and the black cat is replying without hesitation.

"What makes you think it's only us?" The fox's expression flattens.

"You stormed the main western slave port _alone_. I can't see you having gained an affinity for the masses."

"They had Kenma." The black cat returns and Koushi knows just by the sound that he's on the defensive.

"And if you'd used your head, you could have simply had me buy him and release him back to you instead of quite flagrantly announcing your existence to the rest of the snake world as well as your connection to me."

"Whatever, it worked, didn't it? We both got out, so I wouldn't be so fast to think the rest of us couldn't take down this place."

"You're a fool, Tetsurou. Do you have anything better to offer than a weightless promise of pulling this nest to its knees?" Kuroo looks to the side and scowls.

"I _knew_ you'd be a bitch to work with." He mutters before looking back at the sharp gold eyes. "How about a free pass."

"To what, your funeral?" Kuroo rolls his eyes.

"If you are ever caught by sentries from the crow rookery, ask for Iwaizumi. Any crow in their ranks should know him."

Koushi has to focus to keep his surprise off his face. It somehow makes him uncomfortable, selling Iwaizumi's protection without the sentry leader's consent or knowledge. The fox's brow creases.

" _I_ know him. He's just a sentry leader."

"Not _just_ a sentry leader. He seems low profile, but he has the ear of the Grand King. You drop his name and you should be afforded some clemency— at least temporarily. When you see him, tell him you are Kuroo's source. It might not get you out, but it will likely keep you alive." The fox's eyebrow rises.

"You must not trust this rookery rat much if you aren't even on a first name basis with him."

"Funny. I place exactly zero trust in _you_." The fox smirks and huffs through his nose.

"You surprise me, Cat. But if you know someone that high in their ranks," His burnished golden gaze slides across the rest of them calculatingly, "Sentries. You've been flying under the radar with sentries. How times change, huh?" He says with a predatory smirk.

"Alright, I'll bite. What are you doing here, Cat?"

Koushi sees the tension slide just a touch in Kuroo's shoulders and knows the mood has shifted; the fox is asking in earnest.

"Covert entry. We need to know layouts and the best way in."

"What happened to toppling the nest?"

"Leave that to me. I've got one more ace up my sleeve that no matter your asking price, I won't reveal. What I need from you is details."

"Well, my earlier admonition still stands. There were over four hundred in this nest at last count, but that was before the crows cracked down on them a couple years back. The actual number is probably somewhere closer to five. You might have a death wish, but what about _them_? They have any experience with snakes?"

"No." The fox's expression creases into a scowl.

"Seriously, give me _something_ to work with." He mutters, running a hand through his hair before fixing the black cat with a hard look.

"The rookery rats figured out early on after their first few attempts to blast the network in the south that ignorance isn't a good gamble. A few casualties in and they made adjustments. I hope you remember that if you're caught, I'll gut you myself to keep you out of torture. Them, too."

"Capture probably isn't going to be an issue."

"You sure about that? That one ain't native." The fox says canting his head toward Hinata. The black cat glances at himself and the others.

"Unlikely. His leveler is the crow. Of the seven of us here, there are three pairs. All the same," Kuroo says to them his gaze landing solidly on Tanaka, "He _will_ kill you if you are caught."

For the second time in as many minutes, the thrush is surprised at the information the cat volunteers, and knows by the dark crease in Kageyama's brow that he isn't happy about it either. Still, they've opted to trust Kuroo's insight and lead, so he keeps silent. All the same, Koushi understands why he fixes on the bald crow; if either half of a level pair bites it, both will, but the scowling crow doesn't have one. Tanaka shrugs.

"If we can get Natsu out, then I can probably live with that."

The fox's eyes flash sharply, and Koushi wonders if he imagines the shadow of anger that crosses his face. But it's gone in an instant and the fox glances at Kuroo with exasperation.

" _Another_ rescue mission? Didn't you learn from last time? Who is it and I'll just buy them for you." He says with a hard frown and an annoyed shake of his head.

"It's my sister." Hinata says stepping forward and the fox frowns, taking in the redhead a little more fully.

"Exotic, which means expensive...but doable. Who picked her up?"

"No one, she's been here for centuries." Kuroo says and the fox watches him for a long moment and then raises a hand to his temple.

"I take it back. She's a nest egg. Usually nothing short of a faction kingfish can get someone to release those." His brow furrows in thought before he huffs and looks back at them.

"Well, at least it's an extraction. That will increase your chances. Asset retainment isn't located in the main nest, so you will have fewer snakes to contend with… wait, if she's been with them so long, how did you find out she was here?"

"She found us in town. The snakes were using her as bait." Kuroo says but the fox frowns.

"Not likely. They don't bait close to their strongholds. They get the wrong person and they run the risk of drawing retaliation from the surrounding population. She might be a plant." Hinata shakes his head firmly.

"She's not!" Kuroo looks mildly affronted at the redhead's outburst.

"We don't think she is. She's quite young to be able to pull off an act like that." He murmurs.

"Then she's a blind. When they need someone to run errands, snakes sometimes use captives that will blend into their surroundings to help hide their actual numbers. People don't question their movements and activities when they don't feel their presence. But if she's a blind, then she's almost hardwired to obey them. She'll have been through enough punishments to ingrain it into her head that she can't escape even if she has the freedom to move around."

"The snake caught her talking to us. How do we know she won't be transferred or something in case we come after her?" Daichi asks.

"They are already right next to one of the biggest nests in the vicinity, why would they feel the need to flee? Five and a half people is hardly a viable threat and not nearly enough to make them feel pressured enough to move from the shadow of safety the nest grants." The fox says and Koushi is momentarily distracted by his second shot at the small cat, but they again ignore it. So he does, too.

"If she's a, um… 'blind'... then would she still be where they keep the rest of the captives?" Koushi asks uncertainly.

"Most likely, but it's not a guarantee." The fox says and turns to Kuroo.

"Start there. If she's in trouble for interacting with outsiders, I'm confidently comfortable saying that's your best bet. If she isn't, then I hope your 'plan to crush the nest' isn't just you talking out your ass, because that's the next place to look. I hope you intend to brief these guys before they head into this hell; they _will_ die horrible deaths if they aren't prepared." Kuroo nods.

"That's a given. Tell me about the retaining outpost."

The fox nods and produces a quill and a couple sheets of paper. He snags Kenma by the arm, making Kuroo tense, but the fox merely turns him and flattens one of the papers against his back. It's a curious action that, combined with his earlier remarks, gives Koushi the distinct impression that he thinks very little of the small cat, and he wonders how Kuroo can just bite his tongue, because _he_ sure wants to say something. It makes him think there might have been more to their last encounter than either have divulged through their volleying insults.

The black cat keeps his expression frigidly neutral, however, and Kenma's own features barely change at the fox's manhandling. With a flicker of surprise, Koushi realizes by their collaborative lack of reaction that quiet restraint is the price of this advantage. In an instant, he realizes why these two are a level pair… even if it calls for quietly suffering the fox's blatant disrespect toward Kenma to ensure his full cooperation, they still work as a seamless team to secure it. The revelation pairs with the fox's actions and Koushi is inexplicably _certain_ the black cat and the canine somehow have a far more complicated history than just working partners and contacts.

Placing the quill tip to the parchment with swift, precise strokes, the fox begins a sketch.

"The holding point is a league north of the actual nest, situated on the bank of the river gorge. It's close enough to provide immediate backup if an alarm should go up, so know that if you trip it, you will rapidly find yourself overwhelmed by hostile company. It's mostly underground so you will be nearly on top of it before you see it; the best way to approach is from the north. Don't try climbing the gorge cliffs, they usually have guards posted that side. Alarm stations are here and here…" The fox rattles off, still scratching away while Kuroo and the others crowd around him.

Koushi watches as the fox gives an in-depth explanation of both the holding point and the actual nest, Kuroo or Daichi periodically pausing him to voice a question. He doubts that Daichi missed the curious tension between the two cats and the fox—doubts any of them did, but he marvels at how they all follow the two felines' lead and calmly disregard the fox's actions to focus on the task at hand. They are, after all, trying to coordinate a rescue attempt.

It's only a few minutes before the fox straightens and releases Kenma from table duty.

"There's not much else I can tell you. But…" He reaches into a pocket and pulls a couple small vials out and hands them to the black cat with a single nod. "If any of you catch a slow fatal hit." He says gruffly. Kuroo closes his hand around them with a returning nod before pocketing them.

"We will need a way to escape quickly. Can you hook us up with a means of transportation? Something that can handle flightless individuals?" The fox nods.

"Leave it to me. I will have it together by the large oak just outside town tomorrow evening for you."

"Tomorrow? We have all the information now; what's keeping us?" Hinata asks with a frown.

"Trust me Shrinky-dink, she ain't going anywhere. You now have everything I can provide at your fingertips. Use the time you have to come up with a sound strategy to make it work for you." The fox says before nodding at the black cat.

"I expect to hear that this nest has been decimated in three days' time, Cat." He says with a wry smirk. Kuroo raises a hand in silent farewell and the fox melts into the darkness outside the ring of lantern light.

Kageyama turns to Kuroo with a frown.

"Who was that guy?" Koushi wonders if the cat realizes the crow setter's question is probably far more than just a question of 'how he knows so much about snakes'.

"That, Feathers, is the top bookkeeper who presides over most of their operations. He's got a bottomless memory and catches every detail. He's nearly one of the kingpins of the snake ring himself, but you won't find another person on the continent who knows as much as he does about the intimate workings of it."

"He works _inside_ the trafficking network? As in helps them commit their crimes by assisting with record keeping?" Tanaka asks incredulously.

"I get it, though." Koushi breaks in softly, drawing their attention. "He can do so much more from the inside." Kuroo nods before turning to Daichi and handing him the paper with the holding point sketched out on it.

"I will catch up with you shortly. I have one more raven I have to send." He says taking Kenma's arm with a mild frown. The two quickly disappear, and the thrush wonders if Kuroo is off to offer him a groveling apology for having to put up with the fox. Koushi ducks his head with a smile and tosses an arm over Daichi's shoulders.

"Shall we go argue over the best way to do this until he gets back?" He asks lightly.

"Mm." His leveler murmurs and they head back to their inn.

The thrush watches his leveler with quiet fondness, knowing that he's probably humming as badly beneath that calm facade as Hinata and Tanaka. Koushi _knows_ Daichi. He's entirely capable of extreme violence when provoked, but he's cautious, too.

The silver-haired setter knows he and his leveler aren't fundamentally the same. If it comes to it, Koushi will accept death with grace because everyone dies… but Daichi will not.

Daichi is loyal, devoted, and kind… and heartbreakingly selfless for the things he cares the most about. When it came time to make the decisions that will place both himself and Koushi in mortal peril, the thrush is positive he will waver.

Koushi smiles slightly. He might be Daichi's little 'silver star', but Daichi was Koushi's entire sky.

The grey-haired setter isn't afraid of death. He's walked this world for hundreds of years and he's never once been afraid of anything when Daichi was beside him.

He's also selfish. He will readily put himself to the hazard, knowing full well that if he dies, so will his leveler. _That_ is what keeps that fear of death at bay. The fact that he won't be facing it alone means it will just be another adventure they share.

And it's because he _knows_ Daichi so well that he knows the taller crow will understand and never hold it against him. If Daichi were fighting only on his own behalf, he'd be able to think the same… but Daichi's never been able to sideline Koushi, and so the thrush will step up and do it for him.

It will be a last resort, of course— the thrush loves life, and would very much like to live this one out to its complete fulfillment— but he will not shy from the impossible decisions. He will make the calls Daichi cannot, and he will fight with everything he's worth for the people he loves.

Koushi leans into Daichi a little more, reveling in the contact. He really does love this crow. Daichi had set him free so very long ago and having known what it's like to have no inhibitions places the thrush at peace. His eyes sparkle, just a bit, a silent challenge to the weaver of fate, a dare to bring her worst, because Daichi stands beside him.

He doesn't fear death.

A/N: So. Um, foreshadowing much?

Eh, never mind that, how about my contact? I wasn't sure how I felt about my fox in the end. The more I wrote his character, the more I hated him. I was going to name him and then I ws like, yeah, he's the master of secrets and information, why would he tell his name to anyone? And you guys know how a character can kind of just go off and do its own thing on you? Well, my fox did and as he fleshed out a little more through this scene, I was like, I don't like you and I'm not sorry I didn't name you. He started out this grey character with a peculiar proclivity for details and ended up... well, this. I was so annoyed with him that I was editing this right up until my posting deadline which is now. Apologies if there are errors -_-

I am out for the night; have a good one you guys!


	23. Year Three 6-9 Celestial Limit

**YEAR THREE 6/9 Celestial Limit**

I'm not afraid of death. It's the stake one puts up in order to play the game of life. ~Jean Giraudoux

When I saw you, I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew. ~Arrigo Boito

 **Daichi Sawamura's** calf muscles are cramping from crouching in the brush for so long.

It's been a solid fifteen minutes of nothing but waiting and he can feel the tension in his leveler beside him, his hair silver under the moonlight. Tanaka is surprisingly calm and focused, but Daichi can only see black in his eyes in the filtering torchlight. He can't tell if it's just the poor lighting or if they are actually blown wide with nerves, but he's guessing the latter. He himself has had the urge to fidget and shift so badly for the last five minutes that he can't imagine how Kageyama is holding out.

"Snakes have a five to ten meter buffer zone where they can sense all warm life, so it is impossible to sneak up on them. They sense body heat, and your wings will give you away. Which means, I'll need to borrow your leveler for the first part where we shut down the alarms, Feathers. He's the only other non-winged person here." Kuroo had said.

"What about Kenma?" Kageyama had said with a dark look.

"Kenma isn't much of a combatant; he will be standing by with our means of escape at our rendezvous point. I'd rather have someone with me who I know can handle themselves in a confrontation and will have my back, anyway. I trust your shrimp." The avian prince had been ready to argue, his cobalt eyes snapping with more homicidal emotion than Daichi had seen from him in a long while.

"I'll go." Hinata had said before he could speak. "I want this to work. If this is what I have to do, then I'll go."

"Rest assured, Feathers, I wouldn't ask if I didn't think he could handle it. And if I don't bring him back to you, you can bank that I'm not returning either."

Kageyama hadn't fought him, but Daichi could tell that he'd hated it all the same— hated it with a level of disquiet worse than their big fight that had left his wings bald. And Daichi had known it had to have taken a soul fracturing effort for Kageyama to control his instincts and let the redhead follow the cat into the darkness a short while ago without a word of protest.

As he watches the crow setter's gaze flit between the few buildings that mark the holding point's location, he can see the tension in his body. Everything is taught, from the leaping muscle that betrays his jaw's rigid set, to his hand that grips a low branch for balance in a vice hold, to his wings that are pulled into an agitated display, to his knee dropped beside a foot as he slowly leans ever more forward.

He knows the younger crow didn't sleep last night… he doubts any of them had found much. Koushi had lain down, but Daichi hadn't felt him relax enough to convince him he'd actually slept. The cats had stayed outside to avoid disturbing them with restless pacing. He'd glanced up more than once when Tanaka had risen to go stare out the window for long minutes with a hard look. Hinata had crawled into Kageyama's lap where the avian princeling had wrapped him in an uncompromising embrace and buried his face into the crook of the redhead's neck.

Daichi feels a pang for the former young king. They were just starting to bring their relationship the next step forward— there's so much they have yet to experience and share… and now Kageyama is stuck _waiting_ for an uncertain answer to the question of their future. Daichi doesn't know if he could have done the same if it were Suga instead.

The softest rustle has the large crow reaching possessively for his leveler. The black cat's training in stealth and awareness has definitely paid off as he and the three other avians turn as one toward the sound, tensing defensively and ready for a fight. But it is only Kuroo followed closely by Hinata, slipping through the underbrush.

The redhead immediately finds Kageyama, readily allowing the crow to snatch him forward into a relieved chokehold. As the redhead's gaze flickers toward himself and Suga, he catches a look in them he recognizes in the dim light from the building torches. He knows it, because he's also experienced it. Most everyone had missed his mental tailspin in the chaos surrounding the younger level pair's flight from the rookery, but Suga and Tanaka had been there, and he knows they remember. The hollow resolved look in Hinata's eyes speaks to the death of innocence.

Hinata... bright, effervescent little Hinata... has taken a life.

Daichi's heart breaks just a little, knowing that it is something that will irrevocably change the brilliant ball of sunshine.

"My prick of a canine connection has sent these to help us." Kuroo had said only this morning, producing seven tanto knives and a couple keikan daggers. "Do any of you know how to use them?"

"We've been trained on most weaponry." Tanaka had said frankly, picking one up and eyeing it critically. Daichi had reached for one as well, checking its balance and craftsmanship. They weren't top end, but neither were they bottom, and for what they needed, they would definitely work.

"Then I hope you remember it. Have you guys ever killed people before?" He'd asked and Daichi had remembered freezing at the question. Suga had stilled beside him, and Tanaka had found his gaze in the abrupt tension.

"I have." Kageyama had quietly answered first, surprising them all. Hinata had spun on him with shock, the tanto he'd grabbed loosely forgotten in his hands.

"What?"

Kageyama had looked away from his leveler, unwilling to meet _any_ of their gazes. He'd looked like he'd been kicked somehow, as if he were appalled to even be in his own skin.

"It was at the end of the big Gamut Run exercise right before we were upgraded to a full-fledged sentry unit, due for missions. My father pulled me aside and had me kill a bound and condemned man as my final initiant act before he would allow me to move forward with you guys. He said it was so that I wouldn't freeze when I finally had to do it in a fight… in case there was more than one adversary." He'd murmured, his eyes completely vacant and voice dead as the memory had overtaken him. Hinata had dropped the knife back on a table and grabbed his arm, his face slack.

"Is _that_ why you barely said two words the whole next week?" He'd asked softly, his other hand rising to trace an index finger over his leveler's cheekbone as his cerulean gaze had focused back on him. Kageyama hadn't responded, but he hadn't pulled away either.

"So have I." Daichi had murmured, drawing their attention. After Kageyama's admission, it had suddenly been easy to voice his own.

"You, too, Daichi?" Hinata had asked weakly.

"Mine was the day right before you guys came back after you were grounded. We were scouting one of the outlying areas and got into a scrap with some hawks. I'd snapped the guy's neck before I realized it." He says, his eyes finding the floor, and he feels his leveler drift closer to him, a silent vote of support.

"He took after Suga. He had it coming." Tanaka had said sullenly, his arms coming up across his chest and his face pulling into a scowl.

Daichi knew the bald crow had been attempting to stem the bout of depression that inevitably accompanied the memory of feeling the man's neck just… 'click'... in his grasp, and the quickly following realization that he'd just _ended_ a life. On purpose.

The guy hadn't died immediately. It had taken a minute or two during which the only part of him that still moved— his eyes— had wildly flickered around at him, at Suga, at everyone, completely fractured with fear as he slowly suffocated due to paralysis of his lungs. When they'd finally turned glassy, the large crow had been shaking so badly that he'd had to sit down. The _had_ been lucky that the confrontation was over as quick as it had started, and he hadn't been stuck dealing with his gut-wrenching reaction while trying to defend himself from another attacker.

But it had allowed the full weight of the truth to crash down in its entirety: he'd killed someone. He was the reason that someone else's life was cut short. He'd been plagued by staggering guilt and questions since then.

Had he really _had_ to kill the hawk? What if he was just following someone else's instructions? What had he thought in those last couple minutes? Or was there only fear? Did he have a family, someone waiting for him? Children? Did they know that their wait would be forever now? Had he had a _leveler_ and he'd actually killed _two_ people?

More than once Koushi had come and just sat with him in a quiet secluded place, saying nothing and instead, providing silent support just by staying beside him. If they survive, he hopes Kageyama will have the presence of mind to do the same for Hinata now.

"Tobio." The little redhead's quiet voice breaks the dark silence. "I'm going to get my sister back. Are you ready?" He asks, and the black resolve in his face is something Daichi will never forget.

He understands the leaded determination swirling inside Hinata; the kid _needs_ a reason to justify having killed someone. Daichi has no doubt that the redhead will stop at nothing to rescue the little girl, and mentally urges him to cling to that. Gods knew, the larger crow is positive the only reason _he_ didn't lose his mind after he'd killed the hawk was the knowledge that Koushi might have been injured or killed instead if he hadn't. The crow setter holds onto Hinata a moment longer, then nods.

"There were only three guards at the south alarm tower. They won't be an issue anymore and we took out another four between here and there. There are plenty left, but I think I can handle the other alarm post alone." Kuroo murmurs and turns to Daichi even though he still addresses them all.

"The entrance to the vault is just this side of the first building, but there might be more. The shrimp can show you. You will have to clear the guards posted there and then keep a watch while a couple people sweep the inside for Natsu. Your wings will still be a flag, so you will want to lead with Feathers' leveler to help throw anyone you meet head on. Be quick and don't hesitate, because they won't pause in killing you. Be mindful of their reflexes; they're freaky fast. And um…" Kuroo frowns, his gaze skimming across each of them.

"Try not to sustain injury. Most of their weapons — bolts included— are usually coated with venom; one good strike can kill even if the blow itself might be minor. All the more if one tries biting you. Not every snake will be venomous, but you can bet that if one of them is trying to sink their fangs into you, you will die in agony if they succeed. Most snake venoms are faster acting than your leveler connections can heal, so don't count on them. I have a couple remedies, but they aren't guaranteed to save you. Eh, do you…" Kuroo draws a deep breath.

"Do you guys have any questions?" Daichi thinks he hears a note of unease in his voice, and he has to remind himself that this is _Kuroo_.

The feline didn't do this kind of thing with others; he worked alone. He'd even suggested that he be the only one to enter the compound and retrieve Natsu at first, but had met opposition from every side. Daichi can tell that he hates splitting them like this, hates that they are in any danger at all. But there is no scenario where retrieving Natsu will not be dangerous.

"I think we're ready." Suga says beside him, the black cat swallows hard and nods.

"Okay… I'd rather take your job, but we need that other alarm post out before someone notices anything's amiss. The full force of a massive snake nest is the last thing we need bearing down on us. So just like we planned, then. I guess… be safe guys. It would be fan-fucking-tastic if we could all go home after this." The cat says with the slightest hue of nerves.

"That includes your fuzzy ass. Don't get yourself iced either." Tanaka murmurs, before turning to pick his way carefully down into the holding point. Kuroo nods and Daichi exchanges a grasping of arms with the cat as the younger level pair follow the bald crow.

"Good luck." The large crow murmurs before slipping after the other three, Suga right behind him.

Hinata soon slips into the lead, and takes them swiftly in a wide arc around the cleared forestation, sticking to the shadows until they are right up behind the first building. The redhead pulls his tanto out and leads out first, casually walking up to the building and then skirting its side. For a moment, Daichi wants to ask what he's doing, but he blinks as he notices his posture.

His steps and demeanor look like Kuroo… relaxed and evenly measured. If a snake senses body heat, someone acting completely normal would be less suspicious than someone acting uneasy. He feels the hair on his neck rise just a bit. For a moment, Daichi can completely believe that he is an elite assassin with his poise and easy silent movements. The kid disappears around the side of the building, there's a quiet grunt and then nothing.

The next few seconds are nerve wracking. The only reason they know that sound probably didn't come from Hinata is that Kageyama is still crouched tensely beside them, his eyes fixed on the point where his leveler disappeared.

And then the shrimp's head pokes back around the side, his small form straining to move something heavy. Kageyama and Tanaka react before Daichi can say anything. Both crows zip over to him, their wings releasing echoes into the silence around them with every beat.

Hinata's head snaps their way and he automatically drops his burden and catches Kageyama's shirt, jerking him out of the air. Tanaka lands as well and the shrimp glares at them and puts a finger to his lips. By this point, he and Suga are moving, catching up with the other two as they help the redhead pull the body of a snake out of sight around the side of the building, it's minimal facial features unnerving.

Daichi can feel his mind shutting down slightly as he numbly stares at the man in horrified wonder. He can see the way Hinata had first buried the long knife in his ribs and then slid it across the man's exposed neck after he'd collapsed. For the second time, he thinks that Hinata could secretly be an assassin. Kageyama apparently wasn't the only one who could turn off emotions in a pinch.

Hinata holds up a hand to pause them around the corner before stepping back into the direct light of a torch and Daichi catches a smear of red on his arm.

"Snakes have a harder time feeling body heat through walls and earth so if you are clearing a building or something room by room, approach each with caution. A snake that's particularly vigilant might still know you are on the other side of the door." Kuroo had said.

There's the quiet opening and closing of a door… and then three nearly inaudible knocks on it.

Like a damn breaking behind a lake, energy snaps across his muscles and they all move. Hinata's warning still sharp in their minds, they all dart around the corner on feather light feet, Kageyama the first to the door.

 _Three knocks._ _Three or more adversaries._

There's a quiet thump as Kageyama bursts in, his tanto already drawn as Daichi, Tanaka, and Suga follow. The room freezes, four glittering pairs of slitted eyes turning their way and a flash of almond.

And then it breaks.

The shrimp pulls his tanto and shoves it into the snake holding him against the wall with a hand around his neck. Kageyama heads straight for the next one beside Hinata, Tanaka for the one sitting at a desk, and Daichi and Suga both round on the last. This one is quick and blocks Suga's strike, but Daichi uses his tanto sheath to knock him back.

Raising the knife, he sees a flash of circular golden hawk eyes before the two-tone slitted ones of the snake before him take their place, and he brings it down with a sharp intake. The snake jerks away and his aim becomes non-lethal, but Suga's isn't so benign. The thrush buries his knife in the snake's neck, throttling the sound that had been on the verge of escaping it.

Knowing he won't survive Koushi's hit, Diachi spins to assist the others, only to find them all straightening already. It had been only moments, but all four snakes lie either dead or dying. Daichi pulls in a breath and tries to flatten out his heart rate as Hinata heads for the door at the back of the room. His hand is closing on the handle when it bursts open and two more snakes push in. Hinata stumbles and Kageyama quickly finds himself the target of one, Tanaka the other.

Daichi's reflexes vault him forward, the sight of his unit mates under siege enough to blank all thought except what matters.

"Don't grapple with snakes. Stick with melee. The moment you close a hand on them, they will have a target to aim for." Kuroo's voice echoes in his head and at the last moment, Daichi changes action and closes a hand on the snake's shirt. He hauls on it with all the force he can bring.

If the snake is too busy trying to recover, how is he going to aim for _anything?_

The snake crashes to the floor and Tanaka quickly takes advantage of his confusion to gain the upper hand and finish him off with one fluid stab to the ribs. When the large crow looks up, he sees that Hinata has failed to remember Kuroo's advice… but it doesn't matter much.

The redhead has leaped onto the back of the other snake attacking Kageyama, plunging his tanto into the soft space on top of his shoulder. The snake has no chance to react before Kageyama's finds his lung from the other side. Daichi sucks in a breath, his adrenaline still spurring his heartbeat and glances at his leveler.

Except Koushi isn't there.

Daichi feels panic for an instant, his gaze quickly scouring the room. He's on the verge of tearing the place apart when a sound from the second room draws their attention. They enter to find Suga standing over _another_ snake and wiping his tanto against his shirt with a mildly satisfied expression.

Daichi stares, because homicide isn't something he'd have ever imagined the thrush being even remotely capable of let alone appearing so unaffected by. The grey-haired setter turns back toward them with a small smile.

"I found the canary." He says with a wry smirk and Daichi blinks at his poor joke.

 _Seriously. Who was this guy and what had he done with Sugawara?_

"Koushi?" He asks uncertainly and his leveler glances at him with eyes bright.

"I also found the entrance." He says with a grin and points to a door in the corner. It's open and Daichi can see stairs leading down below them. He looks to the three younger avians, hating that he's going to split their unit up even more.

"You guys go ahead, Suga and I will keep watch." He says.

They nod and disappear down the stairs, the redhead taking the lead once more. Once Daichi can no longer hear them, he turns to where Suga is crouched, studying the snake he's just killed. The crow frowns.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to imagine what he must have been like." He says with a small smile. It's frankly unnerving.

"Koushi… are you alright?" He asks carefully and Suga's grey eyes find his own with surprise before he breaks out into one of his pure sweet smiles that crinkles his eyes.

"Of course. I can always weep later, Daichi. Right now, I will laugh, because it means I'm still alive."

Daichi's eyes widen. Somehow, the thrush's words put him both at ease and on edge.

"Don't do anything reckless, Koushi." He murmurs and Suga chuckles.

"This whole plan is reckless. But I think it's worth the risk." He says lightly before looking back at the snake thoughtfully.

"Ne, Daichi. Do you suppose this guy had a family who knew what his day job was?"

The large crow doesn't know if he should be mortified or awed at the thrush's calmly morbid thought line. On one hand, he's happy because it means that the thrush is thinking probably clearer than the rest of them combined… on the other, his demeanor is straight up _wrong_ for Koushi.

Daichi and Suga have barely been standing guard for five minutes before the three are back up, their faces creased with determination. Suga glances their way with surprise.

"That's not the way down?"

"Oh, it was." Tanaka grouses darkly.

"Then where's Natsu?" Daichi asks. Hinata barely falters as he heads for the door.

"She wasn't there. One of the people said she doesn't stay down there with them, and they haven't seen her since yesterday." He says evenly, his almond eyes fixed coldly ahead of him. "I'll go through every building here if I have to."

"Did you run into any snakes down there?" Suga asks.

"We went all the way to where the tunnels let out at the gorge cliffs and only ran into four." Kageyama says flatly, following his leveler.

Daichi knows what Suga is doing, because he's doing it, too. Three snakes at the south alarm post, four along the way, one outside the holding cell entry point, seven inside, four down below… that's almost twenty, and who knows how many more Kuroo's taken out by now.

The fox had said to expect somewhere around fifty to sixty total. Daichi tries to rack his brain and remember the fox's sketch as Hinata slips back outside… which one of these buildings had been the barracks again? He's quite sure there's probably a good twenty snakes in there alone and they should avoid that one— at least until Kuroo gets back from taking out that other alarm bell and pyre.

Hinata slinks across the way to the building facing the holding point entry. As they trail after him, he pushes open the door and steps inside. No knocks echo back and he's slipping back out momentarily.

"Supplies." He mouths and heads for the next building, keeping as much to the shadows as possible, his eyes constantly scanning the vicinity.

Daichi can't help but feel like they are playing roulette; he really doesn't want to end up in the barracks. He eyes the other three buildings they haven't tried yet with misgiving, but Hinata doesn't waver. They trail after him, making sure to keep a ten-meter radius so he can act as both an advance draw and a distraction for any snake who notices him.

Daichi really has to give Kageyama props; he wouldn't have near as much faith in the universe if it were Koushi being used as a proverbial lantern.

Hinata reaches the next building, one with light that spills from the windows, and a burst of muffled drunken laughter escapes. Daichi can guess this isn't the barracks just by the sound; probably their on-site dive. They edge up behind him as the redhead glances into the window. His hand fists and he drops back down out of sight.

"She's here." he says in a furious brittle whisper. His next words are nothing but fury. "Kageyama, they hacked her feathers." Daichi blinks, unsure exactly what that means.

"How many, Shouyou." His leveler asks.

"Six that I could see. One more at the counter. I'd say at least a couple more to be safe."

"Well what do we have here? Runaways?"

Daichi spins in place at the sudden leering voice behind him. He can barely glimpse the unexpected outline and his spine goes rigid.

 _Shit_.

"Forget that birds don't see at night?" The shape asks stepping closer.

 _Shit, shit, shit_.

This is how everything goes to hell, Daichi thinks and throws an arm in front of Koushi.

"How were you planning to leave in the dark? Torches make you an easy target and—"

He stumbles backward with a gasp and Tanaka bursts forth, grabbing Daichi's tanto. He lands on the snake, driving the blade home and the Daichi blinks as the bald crow silences him. He pulls the knife and hands it back to the former sentry leader and then reaches for another.

 _His own,_ Daichi realizes. _He threw his own and attacked with mine._

"I vote we not play in the dark. We are at a disadvantage when we can't see them but they can feel us." He mutters darkly.

"I vote we move… someone might've heard that." Suga murmurs.

They skirt the back side of the little taproom only to find a back door. Hinata slips inside and there's a slight rustle and then a single knock. They follow him in to find one snake sprawled in a widening pool of blood, and Hinata steps over him headed for the other door. The redhead peaks through and silently closes it again to another round of raucous laughter.

"There's a hallway and then the bar. How do you want to do this?" He asks looking up at Daichi. The crow glances around at them in the low lamplight.

"We could try luring a few back first before tackling the rest so we aren't facing so many at once." Tanaka suggests. It's the safer option, but Daichi frowns.

If they dawdle too long, someone _will_ eventually take notice of someone's absence… or one of the bodies they've left lying around. If the cat— skies forbid— bought it, they are flying this mission in some _seriously_ hazardous territory. Daichi wants them out as soon as possible.

"The more time we spend the more likely someone discovers us, and we haven't seen the cat again, so we can't be certain the other alarm is down yet. They haven't been all that skilled from what we've seen so far. I think we can take them." He says.

"So, a brawl it is." Tanaka says with a leering grin.

"I have an idea… give me two seconds to get out the front door and then bust in." Hinata says. He's automatically acting as decoy again, banking that they won't kill him if they think he's an escapee, and Daichi can see the dark glower that paints Kageyama's face. To be honest, he dislikes using the redhead in such a way, too.

"Sounds good. Lead off Hinata." Suga says with an encouraging smile.

The small spiker nods, reaches out once to Kageyama and turns to the door. He takes a deep breath and wrenches it open. His footsteps pound down the hallway and then echo back from the taproom, the amiable buzz of drunken chatter stalling as he heads for the door.

"Oi, what the fuck?" And then there's movement as the door opens.

"Hey, get back here, kid!" The door opens again and Daichi moves, everyone on his heels.

"Freakin' scaleburn. It's probably Jarda; he's been told about screwing with the assets. We're gonna catch it for—"

The snake doesn't get another word out before Daichi sinks the tanto in his neck, his leveler, Kageyama and Tanaka all pouring out of the hallway just behind him. He pulls it free, leaving the snake to grasp at his bleeding throat, and turns on another as he rises from his seat at a low table. As he sets on him aggressively, he catches sight of at least four others in the room, three fending off his unit mates and one heading for the door.

Kageyama dispatches his opponent and quickly follows the other outside. A flash of orange catches his vision, and he sees one more slit pupiled man grab Natsu's arm from where she cowers by a wall. Daichi dodges a knife and slips inside the strike to slash the snake's throat. He turns in time to see the last snake dragging Natsu through the door after the avian prince and scowls.

"Oi, time to go you guys. Our quarry is leaving without us." He barks at where Tanaka is helping Suga finish off his target. When he's sure they have it under control, Daichi buzzes for the door as well. As he steps outside, he can see three snakes strewn about in the dim light that filters out around him, Kageyama and Hinata facing two more standing back to back.

A bizarre ' _pkkt'_ sound erupts near his feet and he looks down to see an arrow embedded in the dirt.

 _Fuck._ _They aren't invisible anymore._

The other two step out behind them as Hinata drops under a jab and brings his own knife up into his assailant's gut. Another arrow piffs into the ground by the younger level pair, but a whimper draws their attention. Even if the young avian prince is focused on his opponent, Daichi knows he's very attuned to the snake who has a hold of Natsu.

Daichi, Suga and Tanaka take off after the little girl and the man jerks her forward and races between the last two buildings and to the edge of the river gorge, before turning back to them. A grim smile creases his face.

"I wondered if that was the kid from Ivoya. She's why you're here isn't she?" He asks and Daichi deduces that he must be the snake that retrieved Hinata's sister.

Daichi advances, ignoring how another arrow strikes the ground just ahead of himself, the feathering barely having brushed his shoulder. The snake sneers and grabs Natsu by the neck. Her little hands come up to grasp his arm, her large almond eyes welling with frantic tears as he holds her out over the edge.

"Natsu!" He hears the redhead say behind him.

Daichi freezes. He finally gets a good look at her wings as they flap haphazardly— what's left of them.

Hinata was right. All of her feathers have been cut just past the downy point where they embed in the wing; it's all but just short of having pulled them altogether and she looks oddly close to what Kageyama had when his wings had gone bald. She won't even be able to attempt a guided landing; she'll fall like a stone. Was this her punishment for talking to strangers?

Another arrow strikes the ground.

 _Their archer must be a novice,_ Daichi offhandedly thinks with annoyance and takes another step forward.

"I'll let her go." The snake threatens.

"Do it and you're dead." Tanaka growls.

"Tanpri..." She whimpers.

"We'll let you go if you put her back down." Daichi says, attempting to reason with him. The snake stares at him, slitted pupils hard and unyielding.

When a piercing clang breaks across the sky, Daichi isn't alone when he jars.

 _Warning bell. Shit. Does that mean Kuroo failed?_

He can see Suga glance sharply toward the alert tower as it rings again. More and more echoing chimes fill the air, but Daichi keeps his eyes on the snake holding Natsu's life in his hand. A slow sadistic smile spreads across his face as the door of the building next to them bursts open and snakes start flooding out.

 _Ah, hell._

As the first of them hit Hinata and Kageyama, the man lets go of the little girl.

Her screech reminds him of Hinata's voice as she disappears and he reflexively reaches for her.

"Natsu!" Hinata yells, and Daichi moves to leap before he flinches as another pair of wings nearly bowls him over.

Tanaka launches past him, his wings pushing flat out toward the gorge, and then, as another assailant faces Daichi, the bald crow, too, disappears over the ledge.

The bell rings one last time and then stops, but they are surrounded now. If they don't figure a way out in the next _very_ short few minutes, they will have a whole bunch more to deal with. If they can get to Hinata and Kageyama and grab the redhead and get off the ground, the only thing they will need to worry about will be the arrows— although he doubts that archer could hit _anything_.

But there are enough snakes that getting off the ground might prove difficult in the first place. If they can thin them out and avoid injury, they might have a shot.

He throws himself into the melee, hoping to hell that the others remember not to take injury. He focuses on one enemy at a time while still attempting to defend on all sides, but it's difficult, because they shift between attackers constantly. For the first time, he thanks the Grand King for his brutal sparring sessions. The rookery leader had often encouraged foul play or dirty moves in their bouts, because if they were to ever come up against real enemies, there was little chance they would observe battle chivalry.

The Grand King had been right. And Daichi sees that training manifesting in all of their moves. When on the ground, a bird's greatest weakness was its wings, something that many years of sparring against the rookery leader's 'war dog' unit had taught them through an unimaginable number of lost feathers. As a result, they all guard them with infinite care, keeping them close against their backs and out of reach.

He manages to take one serpent down and another quickly takes its place. He hears a whoop over his shoulder and knows the freak duo is working as a team and they've just brought down another. One, two more go down, but Daichi knows they will tire eventually and their enemy still outnumbers them over two to one.

 _Oi. Not looking good._

But then another flash of wings as Tanaka crashes to the ground between the younger level pair and Suga and himself, his grey eyes flashing sharply and his scowl murderous.

And there, on his back, clinging to his shirt with a white knuckled grip and feet wrapped around his gut, is a small wiry body with orange hair. Daichi almost wants to tell him to 'at least go put the kid somewhere safer', but his attention is commanded by the snake in front of him.

The fray around them seems to slack just a moment as soft ringing echoes across the land, the same note as the alarm bell from earlier, long and insistently reverberating. It doesn't stop and he realizes that it must be the main nest.

 _What the…were they under attack as well?_

He can see snakes pause around them with confusion and he takes a moment to assess his companions. All the avians breathe hard, sweat shining against their skin in the torchlight.

 _They are tiring_.

Just as Daichi is wondering how the hell they are going to survive this, nearly a third of the snakes around them break off, heeding an unspoken order. They melt into the shadows and disappear, leaving the numbers far more even. And as if a switch were flipped, the serpents all resume their attack.

Daichi feels as if they've been given a gift, been thrown a lifeline and he can feel his energy levels surge with hope. They all dodge, parry, and attack in fluid tandem, and one by one, the numbers start to slide. Two more go down under Tanaka's and Kageyama's blades and then Kuroo bursts from the shadows, his eyes narrowed and lean body flipping into the mess.

"You guys _suck_ at stealth." He grouses darkly and plunges his tanto into the juncture of Daichi's most recent attacker's neck.

"I distinctly remember someone saying they were going to take out the damn bell _before_ they got a chance to use it. We were fine till you woke everyone up." He growls back.

And then it happens.

Tanaka stumbles. He recovers in a flash and instantly reaches for a wing… where an arrow has pierced it. With a fierce snarl, he snaps the shaft and yanks it out. The younger level pair look over toward him… and it's a distraction— an opening that the snakes have been waiting for.

One lunges for the avian prince, who sees the strike at the last moment and sidesteps. Daichi would be privately awed at his reflexes if the younger crow hadn't misjudged his surroundings. Kageyama avoids the strike but trips on the outstretched arm of a former adversary. He's already overbalanced too far and his wings can't keep him on his feet and he ends up on his butt.

"Tobio!" Hinata shouts, frantically trying to make his way toward the crow setter where he parries a heavy strike from the snake with his tanto. Daichi is half a step into moving in his direction as well when the snake pulls a second weapon— a dagger, and his mind goes numb.

 _There's no way he can get there to stop this. Hinata is already pushing full force toward him, Tanaka, too, but no one is close enough._

Daichi can kill for the people he cares about; he'd learned that three years ago. Daichi won't stand by and watch one of them die… but what can he possibly do here?

The snake raises the dagger and Daichi sucks in a breath.

And a gleaming flash zips by his head making him flinch. The snake topples backward, a tanto wedged deep between his ribs, and Kageyama regains his feet in an instant. Daichi's head snaps back to look at Koushi, dread curling in his gut.

The thrush lithely dodges the strikes aimed at him, but Daichi can barely breathe as he ducks one aimed for himself. Sugawara pulls out one of the two keikan daggers Kuroo had given them, but he's discarded his primary weapon. He'd thrown his tanto— his main offensive capability, to save Kageyama's life. Daichi's nerves fray rapidly as he attempts to reach him, to back him up.

And then Suga staggers as well, and when he straightens in surprise, Daichi sees the shaft of another arrow and his heart skips a beat.

 _Two minutes ago he couldn't hit a damn thing. Now he's gotten both Suga and Tanaka?_

When he eliminates the next snake in front of him and gets a better look through the chaos, the world slows.

Daichi could fight for his friends, and Daichi could Kill for his friends. Daichi could give up his own blood for his friends, and Daichi could give everything else— his very life— for his friends; what he couldn't give, was Suga's.

The archer's hit his mark this time.

It's not just a mild wing shot or clipping graze that can be easily dealt with. The arrow has sunk deep into Koushi's chest, the feathering mere inches from his ribs and Daichi is almost positive that it's probably gone all the way through and out his back. And where it's at… it has to have hit a lung.

His leveler's grey eyes widen just a moment before he jerks, and dodges the snake's next strike all the same. And as Koushi returns his focus to his opponent, Daichi's world starts once more, his panic rising and his awareness heightening.

"Suga!" He barks, neatly dodging another snake attempting to take advantage of his distraction. He drives his tanto into the back of his neck as he stumbles by him.

The snake numbers are rapidly dwindling with the appearance of Kuroo to help even the odds, but Daichi honestly couldn't say how many were actually left. He swiftly strikes another down, his gaze fixed firmly on only one. The thrush seems unfazed by the arrow for the most part and dances out of range of the relentless assailant. Daichi is two steps from the snake, ready to decapitate him, when the serpent finally connects. His blade drags across Koushi's collarbone and shoulder, slicing through his shirt with ease.

And then Daichi's strike removes his head cleanly, the snake having no chance.

When he looks back up at his leveler, Koushi's gone still, a small smile on his face as he watches Daichi scramble toward him.

"Suga!" He says urgently, his hands coming up to the thrush's arms, terror creeping into his veins. But Suga laughs and brushes him off.

"You really are amazing when you're fired up, you know that?" He asks as if he _doesn't_ have an arrow through a lung. The black cat materializes beside him with a scowl, a finger drifting out to trace the cut near his neck.

"I told you not to get hit." He growls with something of a pained whine. "Not only did you catch an arrow, you caught a knife. We need to get out of here." There's an urgency to the cat's voice when he grabs Suga's arm and starts drawing him forward.

But Kuroo's ear twitches and Daichi sees him jerk Koushi backward as another arrow skims by his cheek. The large crow spins, his eyes taking in Tanaka as he helps the younger level pair take care of the last two snakes, Natsu still with her death grip clinging to his back. Daichi is scanning the buildings around them for movement that would betray the archer when Kuroo's hand closes on his shirt and he jars.

"We need to get out of range. I can't treat him here. Tanaka's got the kid, let's go." Kuroo says darkly before barking at the other three. "Oi. We're clear! Come on."

Kuroo leads them a fair distance into the forest and the dark, their eyes failing them, but they follow with complete faith in the cat. When he stops, Daichi hears the other three right on their tail. Suga sags into his side and he instantly turns toward him.

"Koushi?" He feels Kuroo materialize beside him.

"Sugawara." He says and Daichi feels his leveler look toward the cat. "How do you feel."

"Eh… weak?" He murmurs and Daichi's pulse elevates with fear as he feels the thrush press into him even more.

"No, I mean— never mind. We need to get him to Kenma. I can't do anything for him here." Kuroo turns.

"Tanaka, I need you to help Daichi get him back." He directs.

There's a soft rustle and a small whimper.

"Eto… she's kinda bein' clingy." He says uncomfortably and Daichi realizes he's talking about Natsu. He hears Kuroo huff in frustration.

"Can you trust your shrimp to me one more time, Feathers? I'll be right below you guys."

The avian prince moves to Koushi's other side without a word.

"There's an opening in the tree line right above us. Head east when you're up. You get up high enough, you should be able to see Kenma's lantern. It's about a league out. I hope you know how to hang on Shrimp, let's go." He says briskly.

He and Kageyama lift off, each with a hand under one of Koush's arms. Daichi can barely think above his racing heartbeat, his dread almost suffocating. Koushi _has_ to be alright.

Has to.

They get above the trees, Tanaka right beside them, and the bald crow spots the lantern— a tiny light against one of the far hills. He and Kageyama take off toward it, Sugawara listless between them, and Daichi only grows more anxious as he listens to the thrush's breathing pick up. He pushes harder and he has to give his former unit mate credit; Kageyama matches him stroke for stroke, hurtling them across the sky.

Tanaka drops back, and for a moment Daichi has to remind himself that the crow took an arrow through a wing; he's probably hurting as well.

As Kenma's lantern grows brighter, then clear, then a target they are dropping down on, Daichi sees the golden cat standing by a cart with two horses.

 _A means to transport non-flying individuals._

When Kuroo had said that, he hadn't thought it would mean Koushi being so injured. He chances a glance at his leveler and blanches. The front of his shirt is stained black with blood from the knife wound, his skin is pale, and a sheen of sweat shines on his forehead. Daichi nods to Kageyama as they carefully set the thrush down, his leveler offering zero resistance.

Kuroo pushes through the underbrush just behind them, Hinata wrapped around him much like Natsu had been with Tanaka in the fight minutes before. The redhead slips off and Kuroo quickly drops beside the thrush where his legs have folded up beneath him and he leans against Daichi. Kuroo swiftly tears Suga's shirt away from the knife wound that still readily bleeds as Tanaka drops beside them. The black cat swears and pulls out a packet and when he opens it, the scent of a weed hit's Daichi's nose.

"Yarrow?"

"I grabbed some because Yachi used it on Bokuto when he was impaled to stop the bleeding." He says, pressing it into the leaking cut.

"Sugawara." He says sharply and the thrush's eyes focus on Kuroo sluggishly.

"Are you seeing double?" He asks. His leveler frowns faintly and shakes his head.

"Do you feel like you are going to throw up?" Another negative.

"Dizzy." He murmurs instead, his breathing shallow. Kuroo's brow creases.

"It's all wrong. I don't even know which hit is the one poisoning him— maybe both."

"Not the arrow." Tanaka says and Kuroo looks up at him.

"I got one in a wing and I don't feel nothin'. Just hurts like hell." He says.

"The cut then. Daichi, what color were the snake's eyes?" The large crow blinks.

"Huh?"

"The one who hit him. I give him the wrong serum, it'll just make it worse." The cat says impatiently. Daichi has no idea. He never got a good look at the snake's face before he'd swept his head from his shoulders.

"I don't know."

"Fuck. Okay… he's not bruising under the cut and his fingers aren't turning blue, but he isn't vomiting and he doesn't have double vision…" The cat mumbles before frowning and placing two fingers over the thrush's wrist.

"But a racing pulse. Mamushi?" He says with a scowl and pulls out the two vials the fox had given them and hands one to Daichi.

"Get him to drink this." He says and turns his attention to the arrow. Daichi takes it and pulls the little cork uncertainly as the cat eyes the shaft.

"At least it went all the way through. We won't have to deal with the barb being stuck _inside_ him _._ Thank you whoever invented crossbows." The cat murmurs as Daichi brings the vile to Koushi's mouth.

And almost drops it when Kuroo's hand latches onto his arm in an iron grip. Daichi turns to him with confusion.

"Hold on." He says with narrowed eyes and Daichi follows his gaze.

A thin trickle of blood escapes from the corner of Koushi's mouth.

"Suga?" He asks worriedly, and Kuroo is quickly snatching the vile back from him.

"Feathers, did Sugawara cough at all on the way here?"

"No." Kageyama says and Daichi blinks; he honestly can't remember the flight much.

" _Fuck_." He murmurs more sincerely and Daichi glances at him with alarm.

"What?"

"He didn't cough so the blood in his mouth isn't coming from the arrow in his lung. I'm pretty sure I know what was on that knife." He says with a heavy breath and reaches back into his shirt and pulls out another small vial.

"Yamakagashi. I picked it up on a whim yesterday. I seriously hope there was nothing else on those bolts, Baldy." He says holding it out to Daichi.

"What happens if there is?" He asks, not moving to take it.

"This serum fails and makes everything worse."

"You expect me to give that to him?" Daichi asks, his face darkening with fury. The black cat focuses his uneven gaze on him with flat sincerity.

"Yes. You do nothing, he's dead either way. Yamakagashi venom messes with the blood. It makes you bleed and bleed and bleed. That's why he's bleeding from his mouth. You let it go, it causes major organ failure and he will die in agony. It also means I can't take that bolt out or he'll bleed out faster.

"I thought it might be mamushi, but his heart rate is up because he's already lost a lot. You give him this, he might still die, but at least he has a chance. And this is the _only_ option where that chance exists right now. Once we get the venom under control, we can try to take the bolt out. If we can get that far, your leveler bond might just be able to save him." Kuroo says.

Daichi stares at him for a long moment and looks back at Koushi and the way his grey eyes focus blankly straight ahead. The large crow mechanically reaches for the vial, feeling more than ever as if he's playing roulette, but in a violent and bizarrely inverted way— like instead of trying not to land on the chance that kills them, he's trying to land on the one that saves them. Those odds are far worse.

His jaw clenches as he uncorks it and taps Koushi's cheek, trying to get his attention.

"Koushi." He says quietly. "Koushi, look at me." Hazy grey eyes lift up to his face.

"Koushi, my brilliant silver star, I need you to do something for me."

"Daichi?" He asks with a slight frown. "Dai, it's fuzzy."

"I know. I need you to swallow this." His brow creases and then his mouth quirks.

"I'll always swallow for you, Daichi."

For a moment, he can't believe the words that leave the thrush's mouth. Of the two of them, Suga is by far the more conscious of their activities around others. Daichi snorts with mild embarrassment on his behalf… and did he just hear a _snrrk_ from Kuroo? If there was _any_ doubt left in the younger three former sentries' minds about the nature of their relationship, he knows there won't be now. If they survive this, his leveler will probably be mortified to learn what he'd said in front of them.

All the same, his chest tightens, because he knows by that response that his leveler isn't all there anymore.

"No, Koushi. I need you to drink this." He says with muted urgency, feeling his entire face heating as he holds the vial up in front of the thrush.

Koushi's brow creases and he reaches for it without hesitation, trusting in him one-hundred percent, but Daichi keeps it out of his reach.

"I got it." He says and brings it up to the thrush's bloody mouth. One swallow in and his face wrinkles.

"Tase like blood." He mumbles and Daichi brushes his lips against his hair in apology.

"I know. But you have to finish it." He says, feeling sick that it tastes like blood, because Koushi's mouth is full of it, the thrush's own life bearing liquid. Suga dutifully swallows the last couple gulps and leans his head against Daichi's shoulder.

"Okay. Everyone into the wagon. Feathers, can you help Sawamura?" Kuroo asks.

Kageyama is already kneeling to help the larger crow lift his leveler before the black cat finishes asking. They situate the thrush carefully against Daichi in a corner, mindful of the arrow, and when everyone is in, Kuroo looks to Kenma.

"He said they should be able to go for several hours. Head for the coast. I have one more thing I have to take care of."

"Kuroo." Kenma says plaintively.

"Relax. It will be fine. Just like old times. I'll catch you on the flip side."

"I never liked old times, Kuroo." He says flatly.

"What's such a big deal that you have to leave? What if Suga needs you?" Tanaka asks with a scowl. Kuroo glances at him.

"I just have to touch base with someone. They're the reason we're all still alive tonight, and they are someone who will come looking if I don't. They aren't who you want after you, so I just need to check in. It'll be fine. I'll catch up with you in an hour and you'll never know I was gone. And Daichi," He says, specifically commanding his attention, "Don't leave his side. And don't you dare take that arrow out before I get back."

"Kuroo."

"I'll come back, Kenma. I promise. Now get going." He says tapping the side of the cart and after a long moment, the golden cat shakes the reigns. As they start off into the night, Kuroo disappears. It sets Daichi on edge.

Tanaka had a valid point. What if something goes wrong with Koushi? None of them knows anything about snake venom. And this 'blood' one seems horrible. What if the serum doesn't work? What if there _were_ other venoms in his system? That meant Koushi would most certainly die, didn't it?

Diachi knows that he'll knock off, too, if the thrush goes, and he's honestly fine with that— he wouldn't want to remain if his leveler was gone, but he hates the thought of the world without Koushi in it. If Hinata was blazing sunshine with all his burning intensity, Koushi was soft starlight in his pure kindness.

He'd always been beautiful, an ethereal presence to him. He remembers as a small child, seeing Koushi's hair beneath the moon and thinking even back then how it almost seemed like he was a star given physical form. They'd used to stay up till unholy hours all the time as kids, sneaking out to fall asleep watching the stars on a clear night in the topmost branches of the rookery.

Suga had even asked him at one point why he acted more like an owl than a crow since he liked to stay up so late. It had taken Daichi _years_ to find the balls to answer him honestly and tell him that it was because the stars reminded him of the thrush himself. Brilliant, beautiful, purely divine, and unattainable.

And when he and this perfect avian ended up being levelers, it had felt as if the gods had seen fit to allow that star to fall to earth that he might catch and adore it as a celestial light was meant to be. He, Daichi Sawamura, had been granted the life of a star with all the radiance of the entire night sky to hold in his hands, to nurture and protect.

And right now, Suga is fighting for his life. He's failed… and Daichi doesn't think he's ever felt more helpless.

Distantly, he registers the bells from the main nest still clanging in the distance.

A/N: Well. There you are. Actiony/suspenseful enough? Boring? I've honestly never tackled a full scale fight scene like this. I don't know how it came out. Also, I couldn't pick the quote I wanted to use so this one gets two XD

I'm late on this one tonight because I wasn't *quite* finished with it yet. It's actually over 9200 words, so probably longest chapter of Horizon (or Pair), and with this post, I've eclipsed the total word count of Level Pair, too. Nobody panic, though, I have several chapters left before we are done. We are looking at 30+

Ha, I'm ALMOST willing to bet that no one will guess next chapter's POV. Almost. B/c if I'm wrong, I'll feel like an idiot and far more predictable than I think I am. But I invite you all to guess!

Oh, right. So, my brother is coming to visit and I will not be posting either tomorrow (Tuesday) or Thursday evening. I'm sure there is a way to schedule posts, but honestly, I've been cleaning chapters up right before I put them up, and neither are formatted yet so that is a no go, sorry. Have a crazy night, guys!


	24. Year Three 7-9 Unravel

**YEAR THREE 7/9 Unravel**

Leaders become great, not because of power, but because of their ability to empower others. ~John Maxwell

 **Hajime Iwaizumi** picks his way through the makeshift camp they've haphazardly set up in the dark, his mind in circling knots.

Everything has pretty much died down now, and he's been seeking a place just to try and sort through his head, but everywhere is noisy. The sentries around him celebrate on a successful mission and he will have nothing but good remarks to bring back to the Grand King, but he can't keep the nervous agitation from spurring his feet to find that one quiet place.

Finally giving up on success inside the rings of torchlight, he steps just outside of it, and is instantly relieved to find an ancient fallen tree, it's roots having pulled up a large crater of earth. It hasn't toppled completely and Hajime agilely springs up on the massive trunk, quietly awed at its size. It is wider than his wingspan, and ignoring the way it brings him farther from the safety of the camp, his steps take him up bare and weather bleached wood that glows lightly in the moonlight.

As he finds a place against a protruding branch perhaps ten or fifteen meters off the ground, he turns and settles against it facing the camp. He can still hear the occasional bustling movement or conversation floating up to him from the glowing fires he can see through the branches. He draws in a deep breath and leans his head back, his eyes drifting closed.

His limbs burn with exhaustion, and he's spent from the day's exertion and nerve wracking tension. He'd been woken an hour earlier than necessary by a messenger this morning; the sun hadn't even begun to chase the gray of early morning out yet.

"Iwaizumi, Sir, you have an urgent raven that just came in at the aviary!"

He'd drug himself out of his bunk with a grunt and quickly tugged on clothes before following the kid out still half asleep.

But his mind had quickly picked up; there were five sentry units out on a snake raid for the last week… so far, updates had been steady and normal. But even if he _had_ warned the beach crew, the sentries were still in that area.

 _Had something gone wrong_?

Had the raven not reached Ukai in time and they'd caught the avian prince's group? Had it been intercepted? Had someone in Sheru Bay let it slip? Or had they just found another snake cell? Maybe thirty different scenarios had run through his head by the time he'd reached the aviary, each as nerve wracking as the last.

The actual message had nearly sent him to his knees in shock.

 _This couldn't have happened at a worse time._

He'd stared at it for several seconds until the messenger kid had asked him what it said. He'd blinked at the boy stupidly before turning and sprinting his way to the Grand King's private quarters as fast as he could.

"Sir! Permission to mobilize units, sir." He'd said, out of breath. The Grand King had looked up at him from a bit of parchment with a brow raised in surprise.

"You're awfully chipper so early in the morning, Iwa. You look like you just rolled out of bed, but I don't think I've ever seen you this awake before." Hajime had clenched his teeth to keep from rolling his eyes.

"Sir. Permission to—"

"Mobilize units, yes. Whatever for, Iwa?"

Hajime had debated for all of two seconds before handing the message to the grand king. Hajime didn't need to hear it when the Grand King read it out loud; the words were already seared into his head.

"Massive snake nest five leagues west of Ivoya. Four to five hundred. Bring the house, Iwa, party is at sundown on Moku. Feathers is about to do something stupid." The Grand King had looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"It's not signed."

"It's my informant." He'd said haltingly.

"The one you told me about who keeps tipping you off?"

"Yes."

"Iwa." Hajime had tensed slightly at the direct address.

"Yes, sir."

"Why does he use the name I call you by?" The Grand King had asked with an arched brow and a deceptively pacifistic voice. Hajime had gone rigid.

"That's the alias I gave him. It's how I know it's from him." He'd lied.

"Is there a reason for that? I don't bestow such things on just anyone." Tooru had asked, leaning forward, and a snap of irritation had sent Hajime's rational thoughts running, likely easing him from the Grand King's critical eye at the same time.

"Because he's insufferable." He'd groused. A slight smirk had tipped the rookery leader's mouth.

"That was uncalled for, Iwa. Who is Feathers?"

 _Your idiot kid._

"My contact." Another lie… sort of. Kageyama was a contact… just not the one who'd sent the message. The Grand King had fixed him with a skeptical look.

"This guy seems pretty odd, Iwa."

"His information has never been wrong and he's been invaluable to our cause so far. I would like to help him." He'd said, not sure if he'd completely been able to hide the scowl.

 _Actually, no, he didn't really want to_ help _the avian heir, but he couldn't in good conscience, leave him to fend for himself when the_ cat _of all people, was asking._

"You are unusually motivated today, Iwa." The Grand King had remarked, his eyes a touch more serious than the bantering words. The sentry leader had known the rookery king was assessing had walked up to him and dropped the other piece of paper that had come with the raven next to his breakfast.

"He handed me the keys to the nest and not only told me how many snakes are in it, but how to take it as well. We aren't usually gifted with such information and I think it would be foolish not to use it. Rescuing my idiotic contact is just a bonus." He'd murmured. The Grand King had frowned down at the paper.

"Is this…?"

"The nest layout, complete with nearly half the buildings marked along with notes on entry points and tactics. There are strategies on here that we've never thought to use against snakes; if we can take down a nest this size, they might send more information like this." He'd said and the Grand King's dark eyes had cut up to him.

"They?" Hajime had nodded.

"This isn't— Feathers' handwriting." He'd said, pointing to the graceful scratches on the blueprint and nearly slipping over the name. "I think he's drawing on his network of people to get us more information."

The Grand King had studied the mapped-out nest for several moments, his gaze flickering across it in calculating thought before he'd sat back and looked at him balefully.

"In order to take on four or five _hundred_ snakes, you'd need a force that could rival that. How many units are we talking here, Iwa." He'd said.

"Half of them." He'd tried, knowing the answer before it was given.

"Denied."

"We wouldn't pull them all from here, sir. We need a reasonable number to stay back to protect the rookery." He'd argued all the same. He'd _needed_ as many as he could get; he'd known that if he'd gotten the rookery leader to agree, he'd only get a portion of what he'd asked for, so he'd aimed unrealistically high in the hope to maximize that number when the Grand King returned with a counter.

"That is an awful lot of lives to gamble on one informant." He'd said with a frown, and Hajime'd felt like he might lose the chance altogether. He'd straightened, adopting a sterile expression and tone.

"Permission to speak freely." He'd said and the Grand King's eyebrow had risen once more.

"Granted."

"Your substantial personality flaws aside, you are, for whatever reason, an exceptional king, sir—"

"Did you just call me a crappy person?"

"— and I will always do as you command. You ask my thoughts and I will always voice them—"

"You do that when I don't ask."

"— but I will always leave the final decision to you. I don't believe I have ever lodged a formal request, but I would like to do so now. Please take half the units to Ivoya." He'd finished, ignoring the Grand King's interjections.

"You _are_ determined today, Iwa. What has lit a fire under your feathers?" He'd asked curiously and Hajime had stared him down.

"Do you trust me sir?" He'd asked instead of answering the rookery leader.

"That depends. Are you commanding my units or designing my wardrobe? Because if it's the latter—"

"Do you trust me?" Hajime had cut him off with a deep frown, because, _dammit_ , he was serious.

The Grand King had looked up at him with contemplation, his light features leveling into sincerity. Seeing the direct expression when he was so used to Tooru's fabricated geniality had made the look seem almost cold.

"More than anyone else, Iwa." He'd said quietly, nearly stunning Hajime off his feet. After swallowing hard _twice_ he'd finally found his voice.

"Take them to Ivoya." He'd said, sounding somehow scratchy even to himself.

He'd _had_ to get them there somehow. If it had taken breaking and telling the rookery leader everything in order to do it… Hajime knew he would have, because Tobio needed to _live._ The Grand King had drawn a large breath and let it out in a tired sigh.

"Alright, Iwa." He'd finally said, sounding somehow defeated. Hajime had blinked.

"Seriously?" The rookery leader had flashed him a sarcastic smile that somehow looked forced.

" _Seriously._ " He'd said with a smirk, parroting the word Hajime had used. "But..."

… Of course, there was a 'but'.

The air had left Hajime's chest and his brow had drawn down into a scowl.

"And here come the terms. What ridiculous thing do I have to promise to get this?" He'd grumbled and the Grand King had grinned true.

"Why, since you are offering, I will have to think of something." He'd said with a laugh before fixing him with a firm look. "But I will not be going, Iwa. And you can't have half." Hajime's brow had creased in confusion.

"Not going?" He'd echoed.

"No."

"Then who is going to lead them?" He'd asked uncertainly.

"You will. This is _your_ brain child, Iwa, _I_ shall have no part in it." Hajime would probably have needed a shovel to pick his jaw up off the floor, and he'd swallowed hard.

"I don't think—"

"You may have forty percent, and fully half must stay here. Ivoya is a good ten-hour hard flight and this is supposed to go down tonight. You will be hard pressed to get things together and make it there on time. You might want to get on that, Iwa."

Hajime had stared at him for several moments, trying to process what he'd just said. And as his mind had started turning again, he'd rapidly begun calculating distances and time.

"The rest of the units were supposed to stop over about four hours out last night on their way back. If I get a messenger out to them in the next half hour, they should meet up and have enough time to get there. If we can congregate a few leagues shy of Ivoya, we should be able to keep our presence fairly well masked for the interim before an offensive. They've been prone to using crossbow bolts, so I think at least base armor would be wise. I would like to take the veterans who've had experience with them sir. Each of them is seasoned enough to take out more than one snake, so that would help with our disadvantage in numbers."

"It sounds like you have everything all mapped out already, Iwa." He'd said with a smirk, but Hajime had shaken his head.

"It's not… I don't think we'd have any problem overrunning a nest like this during the day, but I think it's going to be far more challenging in the dark. Snakes don't need light to see— we do." The Grand King's head had tilted slightly in amusement.

"If it really is a surprise for them, I don't think that will have as great an impact. If you are really worried about visibility, start setting buildings on fire— _give_ yourself more light. They might also have a much harder time finding you if they have a blinding inferno to contend with as well. Just know that once you raze a building, it tends to alert _everyone_."

Hajime had realized then, exactly how inexperienced he was with serious warfare. The Grand King was exceptional at avoiding confrontation if possible, but when the need arose, he could be ruthless and methodical to maximize the chances for his side. Really, he had such a well of strategic knowledge to call upon—a well that Hajime woefully lacked.

"You really think it wise to leave this in my hands? I don't even know if the other units will listen to me." He'd said.

"The very fact that you hesitate means you consider their lives in high regard and will not throw them away on a whim. It means you will do everything in your power to see them safe. Take my seal for the missive you send with your messenger, if you are concerned. I don't think it will be as difficult as you fear. I believe in you Iwaizumi… and so will they." He'd said, holding out the small metal die. Hajime had taken it with numb fingers, completely floored by the power he'd just been handed.

 _There had been no way he'd been ready for that responsibility. Damn you, Feathers._

"I hope I do not disappoint, sir." He'd said mechanically with a bow.

"Good Luck, Iwa. And oh! I've thought of what ridiculous promise I shall exact from you." The Grand King had said with one of his cheesiest grins. Hajime had blinked at him owlishly.

"What would that be?" He'd grumbled, almost cringing at the mere _idea_ of how absurd the request would be.

"You must promise to come back." He'd said, the playful banter sliding from his face, and Hajime had blanked.

"What? Why wouldn't I—"

"Do not die out there, Iwa. It would be lonelier than I could bear without you around...and I would never find out what secret it is that you are keeping."

Hajime opens his eyes, his gaze lingering on the bonfire glow that used to be the snake nest.

Everything had gone off without a hitch. The units Hajime had led from the rookery had met up with those returning from the snake raid in the east a couple leagues south of Ivoya; a songbird scout had confirmed the location of the nest as the sun was starting to set. He'd conferred with all unit leaders, showing them the layout of the nest and diplomatically soliciting their thoughts. They'd attacked just after dark, Hajime taking the Grand King's advice and torching buildings so they had the advantage of sight.

It had been over in a half hour, the nest completely overrun and the surviving snakes scattering into the darkness. He'd scored his first major military command victory against unfavorable numbers, and he'd done it soaringly. And yet…

 _Damn you, Tobio._ Hajime had no desire to lead, either.

"You're far more approachable when you leave yourself open like this."

Hajime jars sharply, his entire body flinching. He spins in place to see a mismatched gaze, short wild locks, and the outline of slouching shoulders he knows all too well leaning against the next branch over.

"Well that's a softer reaction than the first time I showed up in the rookery. Or the second. The second might have been worse, actually." The black cat says with a smirk.

"Oh, for the love of— it's a goddamn _rookery_ , cats aren't supposed to be anywhere in it, not to mention it'll be _my_ fucking hide if you're ever caught. Where the hell did you come from, anyway?" He grouses saltily. The black cat smirks and jerks a thumb over his shoulder.

"Further up the tree." Hajime huffs in annoyance and rubs a temple with his fingers.

"Forget I asked. Is he alive?" Hajime mutters sullenly.

"He is. Next time you see him, he owes you a debt of gratitude. We'd never have made it out without you."

"Glad to hear it. We never saw any of you." He says flatly and the cat shrugs.

"That's because we weren't here." Hajime's jaw drops.

" _You weren't here?_ You had me come crush a nest with an impossible deadline and _you weren't here?!"_ He spits, white hot anger zapping his limbs to life.

"Just boosting your military career, Iwa. The correct response would be 'thank you'." The cat says blandly and Hajime's arm whips out and latches onto his shirt, fully intending to punch him. A flicker of irritation slips through Kuroo's features.

"Relax, Crow. We were a league north at their holding point." Thoughts of swinging at the cat die.

"Holding point?" He echoes.

"When you get the chance, take a small group and head that way. You will find a compound of like five buildings up against the river gorge. Inside one will be a set of stairs that leads underground. Use caution since there were still a couple snakes there when we left, but you'll find many people who will be happy to see you."

Hajime blinks slowly. He _had_ wondered why they hadn't really found any captives in the nest.

"Which one of you got caught?" He asks with a frown. The cat shakes his head.

"Doesn't matter, we retrieved them. How did your ranks fare?" He asks and Hajime thinks he might hear a note of sincere contrition in the question. The crow looks away.

"Eight casualties. Another forty-seven injured." The cat whistles low.

"Impressive. Far better than I'd have thought… but I'm going to assume you anticipate that first number rising."

Hajime doesn't answer. Venom does awful things to people; he's been lucky enough to never have experienced it, but he's gotten to see it firsthand. The cat clears his throat and glances toward the nest.

"Gotta hand it to you, Bird— I kinda like what you've done with the place. Although, it was a bitch going through burning buildings searching for medical supplies." Hajime's head tilts in bafflement.

"Medical supplies?" The cat eyes him a little skeptically.

"Ain't you supposed to be a crow? That's the second time you've mimicked me like a parrot." He says with a crease of annoyance before reaching into his shirt to pull something out.

"I'll have you know I nearly lost an eyebrow for these." He says and Hajime realizes they are small bottles. The cat holds up one.

"Pay careful attention to the symptoms. If their heart is racing and they are seeing double, it's mamushi. This one is for that." He says handing him the first one and holding up another. Hajime blinks.

"You found these in a snake nest?" He asks dumbfoundedly and the cat throws him a look of irritation.

"Most of 'em might be more resistant to poisons but enough are still nonvenomous that they keep these on hand in the event of a brawl or something. Focus, Iwa.

"If the venom entry point is swelling and they are passing out with blue fingertips, it's habu. These are the two most likely venoms you will see here… but we did see a third that isn't generally as common." He continues with a frown, passing Hajime the second bottle.

"Those two look similar, but don't mix them up. Give the wrong one and it makes things worse." Hajime blinks and makes sure to reiterate their names in his head and keep them straight.

"If… they are bleeding from the mouth, nose, or eyes for no obvious reason, it's yamakagashi. This is the antivenom, but use it with care. If there is any other venom besides yamakagashi in the system, this kills the victim. If the bleeding isn't bad, you can try treating for the others first and see if they will pull through the yamakagashi on their own." He says with an introspective look that Hajime doesn't miss as he hands that one over, too. An eyebrow creeps up his forehead.

"Someone got that one." He says and the cat's dual eyes flash his way before flickering off again.

"Yeah."

"Who?" Nervousness curls in his gut as Kuroo frowns, a pained look breaking across his face. It's surreal seeing the cat lose his easy composure in front of him. It hammers home just _how much_ this man cares about the former unit.

"The thrush."

"Sugawara?" He asks with surprise and Kuroo nods once.

"Did he…?"

"Everyone was still alive when I left them a little while ago… but Suga... it doesn't look good." The black-haired man says heavily. Hajime frowns and looks away. A dying thrush isn't their only problem.

"Kuroo." He says, the name feeling strange in his mouth. The cat glances at him with his uneven gaze. "The Grand King knows I'm keeping things from him. Can you guys at least _try_ to control your desire to shorten my life? I might have been able to pull it off this time, but I'm not a miracle worker."

"No promises, but I'm pretty sure everyone will be happy to swear off adventures like these for a while. But I had better get back and see if I still have the same number of companions I left with. Stay safe, Iwa. And thanks for saving our hides." He says and pushes off his branch and heads down the tree. He pauses three steps out and turns back.

"Oh. And if you happen to capture a fox somewhere in the middle of this snake mess, he's critical so don't kill him if you can help it."

"A fox." Hajime deadpans.

"Yep. You'll know him when you meet him. Good luck, Crow."

"Good luck, Cat." Hajime mimics petulantly as he disappears.

He just asked him to _control_ his unruly group of brats, not add _another_ to the mix. He glances down to the bottles in his hands with a scowl. It melts into contemplation as he reiterates which ones are for which venom and repeats the symptoms for each. He draws a deep breath and lets it out with a sigh before heading back down the tree for camp and the infirmary.

The cat probably has no idea what a gift he's given Hajime. Or maybe he does and has finally decided to trust the sentry leader enough after this crazy stunt to share such an advantage. It's a blessing in the middle of the crisis that is the Grand King's suspicion, because the crow now has the power to potentially save even _more_ lives. His gaze sliding toward the north with speculation, he remembers the faces of those he's already lost and smiles ruefully, wishing he'd had it sooner.

A/N:So... Iwaizumi's facing challenges from both sides AND he's being forced into a role he's uncomfortable with. Hold out a little longer there Iwa-chan.

It's been great so far guys; just a reminder that there will be no update tomorrow (Thursday) evening. Thank you all for sticking with it and have a marvelous night guys!


	25. Year Three 8-9 Cataclysmic

**YEAR THREE 8/9 Cataclysmic**

I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul. ~Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

 **Tobio Kageyama** can't break his gaze away from the older level pair even as his hands tighten further around Shouyou.

Kenma sits in front, still at the reins and next to him, Tanaka still holds Natsu who has yet to release her grip on his shirt, but Kageyama can tell that they're watching them anxiously, too. Daichi has Suga cradled against his front, the unconscious thrush's chest steadily rising and falling between bumps of the wagon. Suga's head rests against Daichi's neck, the larger crow careful to keep the arrow's tip and tail out of contact with everything.

The way he's sprawled against the larger crow, Kageyama can't see much of the knife cut, but Daichi's shirt is stained dark beneath him. Most disconcerting are the thin trails of blood that have escaped Suga's nose and mouth. Daichi had tried to wipe them away at first, but they'd kept reappearing, the drops slowly tracing lines down his chin to drip down his front.

Kuroo had caught up with them about an hour after they'd left, just like he'd promised, his face grim when he'd seen the thrush. The large cat has kept his eye on him since, carefully monitoring his state. The thrush's slack wings had started glowing an ethereal silver almost immediately, but no matter how Kageyama wants to place faith in that, Kuroo had said it wouldn't save him.

Daichi's gaze is nearly as haunting as the disturbing sight of the blood that accents Suga's lax expression. His brown eyes stare straight ahead, utterly lost and unseeing. He looks like a shell— as if he were as mentally suspended adrift as Sugawara is unnaturally limp. As if he were facing an endless abyss with no escape.

 _That is what it is to lose a leveler,_ he realizes. It's the end of everything.

Kuroo taps Kenma and the golden cat pulls them up next to an inn. Kageyama isn't sure how long they've been in this uncomfortable wagon, but the silence punctuated only by the occasional catch in Suga's breathing has made it seem like forever.

It's the middle of the night and the innkeeper is grouchy, but when Kuroo grabs him roughly by the collar, drags him over to the wagon and points at Suga, the man quickly nods. Once again, the cat calls on Kageyama to help haul the thrush inside before he's gently set on a table, the man's protests ignored. Kuroo inspects the cut for several moments before settling back.

"It's been close to four hours and I think it's slowed. The bolt needs to come out if he's going to live, but it's your call if you want to wait a little longer Sawamura."

"Take it out." Tanaka says quietly, still holding little Natsu, her almond eyes still wide. Daichi looks indecisive for a second before nodding.

"Does anyone know how to do that? We don't have Yachi or Kiyoko." Kageyama murmurs.

"I do." The black cat says and grasps the feathered end firmly.

"What are you—"

In one fluid motion, Kuroo snaps the arrow shaft with very little movement of the embedded side. Tanaka shifts Natsu to set her down but she whimpers. He kneels and places her on her feet.

"I have to help save Uncle Suga, okay? Can you stay with Sho?" Her eyes well up and Tanaka glances at the rest of them helplessly. Kuroo turns and taps her on the shoulder.

"We need your help, too, Munchkin. You want to help save Sugawara, right?" He asks and slowly, she nods, her wide eyes fixed on the black cat.

"Okay… I need you to keep an eye on your brother and Feathers. If one of them starts looking like they are going to fall over, you let me know, got it?"

"Kay." She whispers.

"Oh. I also need you to hold onto this." He says handing her the broken feathered end of the arrow shaft. "Can you do that?" She nods again and latches onto Shouyou's shirt with a lingering glance toward Tanaka as he stands to help once more.

Kageyama knows this will be tricky. The arrow is much thinner than the shaft that Bokuto'd impaled himself with, but it's hit a major organ. The thrush's leveler must be thinking the same thing.

"How many times have you done this, Kuroo?" Daichi asks, his voice strained.

"Three. Snakes favor crossbows."

"And they all lived?" He chokes out.

"Two did, so odds are in our favor… but none of them had remnants of yamakagashi venom in their system. I can't promise I can save him Daichi. All I can do is try." Kuro says and Kageyama's chest pinches at the contritely sorrow laced reply. The former sentry leader nods stiffly.

"I'll need pitch and a couple smooth clean leaves… Kenma can you find that?" Kuroo says hollowly, and the golden cat nods and darts outside.

"Shrimp, I need you to hold the light. Feathers, is your stomach going to hold out?" He asks without even looking at him, his hands deftly working to carefully cut Suga's shirt away completely.

"Going to have to, isn't it?" He asks, his throat already feeling dry. He definitely remembers getting light headed when they pulled the rod from Bokuto's chest. Kuroo remembers, too, because he cocks a brow at him skeptically before turning toward the anxious innkeeper.

"Please get us a couple blankets." He says and the crow setter frowns.

"What for?" Kageyama asks.

"So you can focus on the wound and not Suga. If you can't see the person you're working on, it's often easier to disassociate from them." Kageyama blinks.

"Ok?"

"Just tell us if you are gonna faceplant." Tanaka murmurs. He scowls. Akaashi was the one who did that last time, not him.

The innkeeper quickly returns with towels and a couple blankets and Kuroo lays them out across the thrush until the only part of him Kageyama can see is the section where the arrow pierces his ribs, his head poking out above, and the ends of his wings that stick out around the edges.

And strangely… Kuroo is right. Unable to see the rest of Suga, it's almost easier to pretend that there isn't actually someone beneath that blanket— or at the very least, someone else.

Handing a towel to both Tanaka and Kageyama, Kuroo follows the same procedures Yachi had and has them prepare to stem the blood flow while he removes the arrow. Grasping it by the barb from Suga's back, he neatly pulls it out in one smooth sweep and hands it to Natsu who jumps and reaches for it uncertainly. He presses his towel to Suga's chest and marvels, because while he can't _see_ a body in front of him, he can feel the rise and fall of the thrush's chest as he continues to breath.

Kenma stumbles back in and quickly hands Kuroo a few large leaves and a bit of wood with a smattering of pine sap. Five minutes pass, and to keep himself from thinking about the slow warmth blooming under his hands, Kageyama watches Kuroo smear the sap carefully across the leaves in a curious almost-square pattern. Kuroo has Tanaka raise his towel first and instructs the crow to make the same three-sided square pattern around the hole in Suga's back while he places yarrow on it. The leaf is set across the arrow's exit point, matching up the two sap patterns perfectly.

"Ano… what does that do?" Hinata asks curiously and Kageyama looks at the cat, because he wants to know, too.

"The lung has been punctured. If it isn't cared for correctly it increases the likelihood that it collapses and he'll die." Kuroo explains patiently as he motions for Kageyama to lift his towel and do the same thing Tanaka had. The black cat continues as Kageyama smears the sticky substance across Suga's smooth skin.

"Leaves will suck down against the skin and prevent him from pulling air in through the chest wall when he draws a breath. And when he breathes out, it will allow excess air still in his chest but _outside_ the lung a way to escape." He murmurs placing his leaf over Kageyama's clumsy three-sided sap square.

"We need to keep an eye on him now. If his breathing changes or if you notice his lips or fingertips start turning blue, we need to take those off because they are failing and he's collapsing a lung anyway. We will just have to try to control the bleeding if it comes to that." Kuroo says tiredly.

The black cat arranges a room for them to stay in and they carefully maneuver the unconscious thrush off the table and out of the entrance. The innkeeper seems a little mystified, and Kageyama stays back a few minutes to help clean up the table and mess. By the time he gets to their room, everyone except Hinata is settled into place.

The most worrisome pair was naturally given the bed and Daichi carefully cradles the thrush who already glows once more, the larger crow's eyes exhausted and distant. Tanaka sits against the wall across from them wrapped in a blanket, Natsu balled up in his arms and already drifting off, sheltered and safe inside the curl of the bald crow's wings. Kuroo lazes at the foot of the bed by Daichi and Suga's feet, Kenma pressed closely into his side.

"You guys can crash for a while. I will keep an eye on Sugawara for the first few hours." Kuroo says quietly and Kageyama merely nods, though he doubts he'll be able to.

Hinata is settled beside the bed, watching him with a vacant look and the crow setter wants to sigh. He remembers what it had been like to kill for the first time, and he's well aware that today's price on their mental state had been, and will be, high. He's positive it will have lasting ramifications for his leveler, and Suga's uncertain state— and by extension, Daichi's as well— will only compound that.

He isn't sure either of them will find sleep tonight, but grabs a blanket and drops beside Shouyou all the same. The redhead automatically invades his personal space and honestly, Kageyama is grateful; with the tentative state of the level pair beside them, in no way does he want to be alone right now himself. His arms automatically cage the smaller boy against him, his wings itching to circle them and hide Shouyou away from all the dangers in the world, protect him from anything dark or evil.

It had been… agonizingly nerve wracking, being away from him for the two short stints today during their rescue, and using him as the lure as they cased the holding point had been no better. He's infinitely grateful the redhead wasn't hurt. A slight frown mars his face. If he has any say in the future, that most definitely _will not_ be happening again.

Tanaka sighs lightly, a sound that announces that, while no one else might find rest tonight, the bald crow will. Kageyama nestles a little more around Shouyou, pressing his face into the loose orange curls. Being so close to a level pair that may or may not be with them in the morning works wonders for making him treasure his own leveler that much more.

A soft oath draws his attention and his eyes slide open. He blinks as Shouyou shifts and drags in a quiet gasp, the smaller boy going rigid in his grasp. He frowns and looks up… and freezes.

"Freaking blue catballs, you gotta be kidding me." Kuroo mutters. The bizarre curse is confirmation that Kageyama is indeed seeing things correctly.

Across the room, a soft glow emanates, two colors brightly competing to throw the greatest light into the darkest corners. Tanaka's wings glow a deep green as he slumbers, the kind of the oldest maples that flourished emerald after the last kiss of frost. In his lap, also fast asleep, Natsu's pitifully hacked wings throw off a vibrant orange that is perhaps a little lighter in hue than Hinata's glow, more the color of apricots. Kageyama sees it, knows what it means, but he can barely believe it.

"No way." Hinata sums up his sentiments in two choked words. "That's… that's my sister…" He sounds like he's swallowed sand.

It takes Kageyama a moment to remember that technically, they are both 'injured' so to speak; Tanaka took an arrow through a wing and Natsu's been pinioned. He supposes this discovery was only a matter of time… but it is still somehow mind-blowing.

"I suppose that's something we should wait a few centuries to tell them, huh." The black cat says wryly drawing a dirty look from the redhead in his lap.

"She's still a kid." Shouyou grumbles, "I'll freaking kill him."

While Hinata's not entirely correct—she's nearly an adolescent, Kageyama can totally see where he's coming from. Comparatively, they aren't _that_ far apart in age and in another six or seven hundred years, it probably won't even be a sticking point, but…

"Hinata, you're a fool…" the barest whisper from the bed has them snapping their heads toward the stricken thrush and crow.

Daichi stares at his leveler in anxious awe, because Suga's grey eyes are cracked open and sparking with comprehension, his mouth turned up just the slightest bit. The silver-haired setter commands their collective attention, because he's _lucid_ for the first time since he fell unconscious after leaving the nest.

"You're a moron… if you think he'll be anything other than what she needs him to be." He rasps out, the sentence fractured and laborious, but a quiet sparkle in his eyes, nonetheless.

"Brother, friend, mentor—" Suga's face twists in pain and Daichi looks ready to whimper. "... or even a partner someday… he will only ever fill the role she demands of him. He's one of the best of us. There is no one better you could entrust her to." The thrush finishes with a weak, wan smile, his face pale. His grey gaze finds Daichi and it slips.

"Sorry Dai." He says with a touch of sorrow, his eyes growing watery, and Kageyama instantly feels like he's intruding on a private exchange. He wishes he could give them a moment alone if only to shake off the feeling that he is seeing something that was never meant for him. He isn't the only one feeling the gravity that descends between the older level pair; Shouyou shifts uncomfortably in his lap.

"Suga, it's okay." The crow says, his voice cracking, but the thrush gives the barest shake of his head.

"I don't regret it. Stars blink in and out of the sky all the time. A star for a new little sun is a fair trade, right?"

"I haven't lost the star yet, so no deal." Daichi murmurs hoarsely, pressing his forehead to Suga's.

Kegayama wants to be just about anywhere else, the intimacy— the _pain_ etched into this moment overwhelming him and making his chest ache. This… Kageyama knows what this is, because he's seen it before. There's a bitter incident in his memory bearing frightening resemblance to this scene, a final exchange shared between his parents the night his mother left this earth with his infant sister. This— _this_ is a farewell to a future lost, and he can almost _see_ its dissolution.

His eyes sting and his gaze blurs.

He blinks in shock and brings a hand to his face. Hinata notices the motion and looks up at him with red weepy eyes of his own. Without a word, the redhead reaches up and brushes the wetness from his skin before burrowing into him all the more, desperate to both give and receive what little comfort the action can provide.

 _I've only ever seen you shed tears once— the day you buried your mom._

He almost never wept. It wasn't something he did. Hinata had said it himself; for him to cry, something major had to happen that affected him personally. As he glances back at the other pair, Daichi's composure long broken and his eyes leaking a steady stream as he gazes resolutely back into the thrush's under the soft leveler glow from the two on the other side of the room, Kageyama feels more tears escape when Suga's face pulls into a serene smile even as he, too, weeps.

In an instant, he knows: losing these two people… people he can't arguably call anything but family— brothers even… won't be just major.

Losing Daichi and Suga will be _earth shattering_.

A/N: Waaah, I'm sorry for how late this is! I got roped into night skiing (read snowboarding) with friends and then they all decided we needed to get food afterword. I was like 'yeah, no, we really don't' but ended up overruled. I apologize :( I'm usually asleep by now, so I'm sorry if I missed errors or it's not as clean as others. And I've been through it enough that the emotional impact no longer affects me so I hope it succeeded in that area, too.

OH, RIGHT. OK... I feel like I'm really hitting on a potentially VERY controversial idea, but I love the idea of Tanaka and Natsu being 'linked'. Most of my Haikyuu ships are pretty standard, but I have a couple that are atypical- this is one of them. Like, in an alternate universe, I keep imagining them meeting YEARS later when she's in like college, back on a weekend and she stops into his family's cafe that he now runs or something, and he'd totally just DROP for her. Given his disposition toward Hinata, I feel like he'd find Natsu to be completely enthralling, and they are only what- sixish years apart? My SO's parents are twelve years apart, my brother seven from his wife, and one of my friends from HS married someone eight years their senior... six years isn't that large a gap. My gut feeling on Tanaka has always been hetero, and I am unable to really get into the Tanaka/Ennoshita ship without him feeling like he's departed massively from his personality- apologies if that is a turnoff. In Craziiwolf's AU, levelers don't necessarily have to be lovers, and if you prefer to read this as if they will only ever be close friends/allies, please feel free! ^.^ Ok, well, off to see how this impacts the ratings XD Have a splendid (late) evening, guys!


	26. Year Three 9-9 Solicitude & Allayment

**YEAR THREE 9/9 Solicitude & Allayment**

Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise. ~Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

 **Kei Tsukishima** is about ninety-eight percent certain that his personal space is about to be breached.

The soft pad of small footsteps behind him has him lifting the quill from the page in front of him with a jerk so he doesn't leave _another_ stray streak in the ledger like he had three days ago. He can almost count down the moment to impact as the little feet leave the ground and slender wings beat twice. He tenses slightly with a blank scowl the last instant before a small body launches itself across his shoulder, sticky little hands circling his neck. His eye twitches.

 _Two hours. Why did he even bother bathing?_

The last ten days he and the owls and Yamaguchi have spent with Suga's relatives in Sheru Bay have been nothing if not eventful. Actually, Kei didn't hate working in the thrush family shop, could see himself getting comfortable there even. Suga's aunt and uncle had been nothing but the epitome of hospitable and he and the others wanted for nothing.

The family patriarch had offered to let him do the shop books that first day they'd showed up, and Kei had easily stepped into the role every evening following. The rest of the responsibilities around the shop, such as manning the front— which Yamaguchi incidentally loved most, or stocking supplies had been menial chores that Kei couldn't bring himself to legitimately _care_ about… but crunching the numbers on that ledger every night after they closed for the evening…

It had been centuries since he'd last been through formal schooling, decades since he'd actually applied any of the knowledge, and years of craving pretty much _any_ form of mental exercise. He'd gravitated toward the position with a mortifying amount of enthusiasm, the scratch of the quill against parchment sending little zips of adrenaline through his fingertips and the slightly musty scent that would hit him with the turn of each crisp page a dose of nostalgia.

It's been centuries since he's last been through formal schooling, and he's had no academic challenge since. Picking up that quill and forcing his mind through the numbers and the process of balancing out that day's transactions… Kei finds it ridiculously cheesy, but it had _called_ to him. Running books for Suga's relatives, his aunt and uncle spectacular, Kei could honestly see himself content here… if it weren't for the resident minions.

"Tsukki!" The child squeals in his ear making him flinch, and in a moment, the kid is squirming up his back, a small foot finding a _distinctly_ uncomfortable purchase on the junction where one of his wings meets his shoulder.

"Hello, Taji." Kei says flatly.

The boy is aptly named; his wings are a lighter silver than Suga's, but with bright golden eyes and an infinite pit of energy, Kei would almost have to say he's more like Hinata— or perhaps Noya or Tanaka with how devious he can be. The boy leans forward over his shoulder.

"What'cha doin'?"

Kei stares straight ahead, resisting the urge to frown with sincere annoyance. He doesn't dare drop the quill back to the page while he's still afflicted with a diabolical little fledgling barnacle.

"Working." He says bluntly.

"Can't you do it later? I wanna play Volley!"

 _Of course you do._

A lead breath leaves Kei's lungs and he slowly sets the quill down before turning to eye Taji.

"I'm sure Bokuto will play with you." He says. The boy's face slips into a pout.

"Boku and Kaashi aren't home yet." He says.

"What about Yamaguchi?" He hears a snort behind him and turns to find the freckled crow leaning in the doorway, grinning like an idiot.

"If I get the ball, will you play?" Taji asks, ignoring his question completely. Yamaguchi raises a brow at him, his eyes creasing as his smile nearly splits his face.

 _Glad you're enjoying yourself_.

"Half hour." Kei caves and the kid whoops on his shoulders, nearly wrenching him off his stool.

Taji scrambles off of him, his little wings batting him in the back of the head in his flailing rush. He straightens back up as the kid disappears out the door to retrieve the ball and glares at the crow… who promptly bursts out laughing.

"Nice to know the backup is useless." He mutters and the crow doubles over with a wheezing 'Sorry, Tsukki'.

Kei gets to his feet, his knees and spine cracking as he stretches them out, his eyes ruefully sliding toward the ledger one more time. He'll just have to finish after… probably _still_ with a maniacal waif bouncing in his lap until he falls asleep there.

"He really is like a cat, you know?" Yamaguchi says, still chuckling. "He wants nothing to do with you until you ignore him." Kei's brow rises.

The sound of the ball bouncing down the hall curbs his retort, though, and he sets off to find the hurricane of disaster wrapped in a child's form… but he's not fast enough. There's another bounce and then a shatter and Kei's instantly in the next room, Yamaguchi right behind him. A glass bowl that held floating tealights lies in too many pieces to count beside the shelf it had sat on moments before.

"Taji, what did we say about playing in the house?" He asks, feeling a headache coming on. The boy looks at him apologetically before bending to clean up the mess and Kei once more reacts without thought, his hand snapping out to circle his tiny wrist.

"Ah, don't _touch_ it." He says probably more sharply than he means as Yamaguchi bends beside him to start picking up the pieces.

"Go ahead, Tsukki, I got this." He says with a light smile. The ibis glares at him momentarily before scooping up the ball and tugging Taji along behind him; the freckled crow is well aware he'd have preferred switching the two tasks.

As he leads the boy outside, Kei wonders which deity he's managed to piss off that the universe has seen fit to fuck with him at this level. It's always seemed to take great pleasure in ensuring his misery as far as that went, but he's thoroughly convinced he unintentionally lit some small rodent aflame with an unattended campfire or perhaps accidentally deprived an orphanage of their weekly meal by taking down a deer or something. He's pretty sure he's had to have done _something_ inherently depraved enough that the world has taken it upon itself to settle whatever personal vendetta it has with him in particular.

His brow quirks with annoyance. Perhaps the most logical answer is that he was _born_. It's always been like this… he imagines it just _seems_ like everything has condensed lately.

Kei isn't someone who likes excessive human interaction. He doesn't do physical contact and he doesn't like kids. How in hell Kuroo had seen fit to place him in a home with children who didn't know the first thing about boundaries so he could work in a shop that saw an excessive number of people beyond his daily mental limit is the riddle of the century.

They _did_ need someone to manage connections between the groups, but Kuroo could have just as easily asked Ukai to do it as Kei and the others. The first raven had arrived three days after they'd split and two days after the first sentries had shown up. Kuroo had informed them that they had reached Ivoya and would likely split off into two groups shortly, so they were to expect another raven a couple days later.

Except the second raven never came.

Two days turned into four and then a week. Sentries— no more than a unit's worth ever at a time— had congregated in Sheru Bay, but he and Yamaguchi had remained invisible to them. The two owls had taken some flack, but the crows had backed off when Ukai had casually stepped in and pulled them away in a show of solidarity. But there had been no raven. They'd surmised that Kuroo and the rest of his group must have run into some hassle, and the cat had opted to forgo one rather than put them all at risk in an attempt to get a message out.

It had set them all on edge just the same. Tadashi had paced around the shop, constantly tidying the place despite there being no need. Bokuto had even sulked long enough that Akaashi had offered to teach him some of the more difficult knots… and the streaked owl had actually sat through it. Even Kei'd caught himself stopping by the local aviary multiple times a day to see if anything had come. Yamaguchi had even tried Ukai's to see if he'd received one directly but there'd been nothing.

And then, two days ago— five days since they were supposed to have received their second raven— there'd been something of a commotion as the sentry unit that had remained in Sheru Bay had condensed in the town square not far from the Sugawara's shop front. They'd all gathered and taken off without so much as a backward glance or parting word— as if they were in a hurry. They hadn't given any indication that they were preparing to depart and it had made Kei go cold.

The last forty-eight hours have been agonizing.

The universe is really taking a crack at him this time, because Kei doesn't _care_ about people. He widely considers roughly ninety-three percent of all individuals beneath his notice, so why Kuroo left him in charge of keeping communication lines open between the three groups, he can't even scratch the surface of.

Kei doesn't care about _people_. Not enough to have been the one making sure they all stayed connected. But the universe is laughing at him, because _somehow_ , by some twisted _fuckery_ , every one of the beach crew have somehow made it into that last seven percent of people he can't pretend exist in an alternate dimension. Even Feathers, for fuck's sake.

Kei _doesn't_ care about people… but he desperately wants them _not_ to be the reason for the sentries' hasty exit.

 _Kei doesn't care about people_ … and like nothing he's ever wanted before, Kei wants them all to come back home.

Kei knows he's been out here longer than a half hour— it's probably much closer to two, actually. The sun is dropping over the trees to the west, but he's still settled back on his knees, his legs folded and toes supporting and propping him forward just a bit as he tosses the ball to Taji. Yamaguchi had joined them after cleaning up the broken bowl, occasionally chasing a ball that comes off the boy's arms so Kei doesn't have to get up.

The kid has decent reflexes and hand-eye coordination, but his ball control is almost nonexistent… although it has gotten better the last week. For only being some five hundred years old, Kei imagines he's not doing too badly. He bets Feathers would probably make some offhand remark like how he and the other Karasuno unit members were all perfect players and winning matches at that age or something, but the silver haired boy has enough determination that Kei's pretty sure he could make real progress if he had someone to play with constantly.

"Can we do something else? I'm tired of passing." Taji says as he bumps the ball back toward him a meter short and Kei catches it off a bounce.

"Passing is the most important part of a game. If your side can't receive a ball, no one else gets to play." Kei says with a frown.

Technically not _entirely_ true, since he still played as a blocker regardless of passes… but the first touch on their side anytime a ball made it past him was always critical in determining if they could send it back.

"But it's boring!" Taji says emphatically, yet brings his hands together just the same when Kei tosses it to him again. An eyebrow arches.

 _Fair enough_.

He played front line pretty much exclusively because Noya always rotated in when he hit back row, and he was middle blocker, so he was virtually never expected to cover hits. He'd gravitated more to the front because of height, but it was also something of a power trip to be able to deny the other team the chance to even get the ball onto their side.

He knew Noya found a similar satisfaction in being able to receive every one of the opposing team's serves or spikes, but it was probably a bit less malevolent. While Noya might be denying the other team the point, he was also initiating the next play for his own; Kei was barring access completely and shutting the other team down before the ball ever reached the libero. It had never been as reverberatingly gratifying to receive for Kei.

"Okay," He says with a raised brow, "What kind of hit do you want to do?" Taji puffs up.

"I want to be a setter!" An image of Feathers flashes through his mind and he sours a little.

"Why?"

"Because I want to be just like Uncle Koushi!" Kei blinks at the silver headed boy.

He supposes he should have seen that coming… but his inner critic is kicking in and he has to crush the urge to be petty and correct the boy. Sugawara might have been significantly older than Taji and his little sister, but they were still _cousins._

"You will have to talk to him when he gets back. I'm not a setter." He says.

"Where is he?"

"He's on a trip." Yamaguchi says with a fragile smile and the boy looks at him fully.

"I heard Mom say that we don't know what's happened to them. Does that mean he's dead?" Taji asks frankly, the gravity of the question completely lost to the child who likely has no real grasp of something as life-changing as death yet. He's probably only concerned with whether he'll have to find someone else to teach him to set.

But Kei sees Tadashi pale slightly, and he has the irrational urge to hurl the ball at Taji's head for his naive insensitivity; he has to remind himself again that he _is_ just a kid and probably has no idea how his words might affect those of them hanging onto a fractured hope at this point. But the freckled crow's stricken expression is gone a moment later, even if the deep lines of exhaustion still carve into his face. Yamaguchi smiles mildly.

"I think there's a chance they are still out there somewhere." He says and not for the first time Kei is struck by the fond expression his face morphs into, even on the heels of the kid dragging his greatest fears into the open.

And with a measure of awed chagrin he is reminded of his most recent revelation regarding the freckled crow beside him.

Tadashi _loves_ children.

The ibis has no idea how he'd missed it, and in truth, he feels really quite… _awful_ about that. How often had he complained to Yamaguchi about a loud or obnoxious spawn monster? How many times had he drifted to the opposite end of a room from a kid in silent protest of its existence? Is there even a realistic figure for all the times Tadashi had just smiled with that quirky grin and a laugh?

He's been Kei's constant companion for centuries, and it is only in the last week where they've been in continuous contact with two very small and precocious avians that he's realized it. And it's made him feel a horrible gut-churning emotion he's rarely been subject to in his life… like he's been the most arrogant self-centered ass for belittling something the crow obviously holds in such high regard.

"Why did they leave?" Taji breaks his depreciating self-reflection and at the slight crease around Yamaguchi's eyes, Kei is immediately answering for him.

"To escape _you_." The boy looks at him and his eyes narrow.

"They did not." He says.

"Did, too." He rebuttals just as fast.

 _Was he really getting into a bickering match with a kid?_

"Did _not_." Taji says emphatically.

"They told me so." He says flatly, minorly indulging his deviant impulse to needle the kid.

"Tsukki!" He glances at Yamaguchi with a smirk tugging at his mouth.

"What? It's true." He says and the freckled crow's jaw drops, but Kei can see the slight upturn at the corner of his mouth. A flimsy rebuke is coming, he knows, but Tadashi finds his banter entertaining all the same.

"It is not. Don't listen to him, Taji." He says turning back to the boy. "Tsukki's just being obtuse." Kei feels his jaw drop slightly.

 _Obtuse?_ _Obtuse._

 _Well, then._

"Yamaguchi just says that because he wasn't there." He says matter of factly, and Taji finds the crow with a frown.

"Were you really not there?" He asks, a bit put out and Kei can't quite keep the facade in place. He huffs in amusement.

"Nope he wasn't. You're pretty gullible, aren't you?" He asks with a cheeky smirk. "Reminds me of someone else I know… let me think, who was it?" He says tilting his head, the image of Feathers' leveler popping into his head.

Hinata was tougher to get going now than he had been when Kei had first met him, but he can still get the small spiker to believe some _subtantially_ outlandish things on occasion. He'd even gotten him to ask Suga to pick up a 'cow' egg from the market next time the thrush went into Sheru Bay. The silver haired setter had stared at him blankly for several moments while Kei had nearly lost it.

"Hmm. I know. You're just like—"

"Kuroo." Yamaguchi says and Kei frowns slightly.

"Eh… not _really_ who I had in mind, but—"

"No, Tsukki! It's Kuroo!" He says sharply and Kei's head jerks up at him.

The freckled crow stares beyond the boy, his dark hazel eyes fixed toward the tree line. Kei pushes to his feet, his gaze searching for the black cat, his chest tightening in anxious anticipation.

And there he is.

Half slouched shoulders carried in a sauntering gait, black ears, wild hair with its permanent bedhead effect, the heavy locks that drop across his blind eye, his other gold eye already finding them— it _is_ Kuroo. The cat is alone, which he finds odd, but Yamaguchi is right.

"Tsukki," he whispers, his voice half choked.

"It's him, Tadashi." He says quietly. Yamaguchi sucks in a gasp and turns to him, the exhaustion still etched into his face forgotten.

"They're back, Tsukki! I have to tell Bokuto and Akaashi! I'm going to the docks!" He yelps, his wings already beating for takeoff.

"Yamaguchi, hold on—"

The freckled crow is nearly out of earshot by the time he gets a word out and Kei doubts he'd hear it even if he weren't. The stress of the last ten days had been undermined by bone-deep relief; Tadashi was nearly in tears. Kei watches him for a few moments more before looking back at Kuroo who's making steady progress toward him.

He steps up beside Taji who watches the approaching cat with large golden eyes. He startles slightly and looks up at him when Kei drops a hand on his head. He bends down.

"Hey. Can you take this and go find your mom and dad? Let them know they are back?" He says, handing the ball to the small boy. Taji looks like he wants to argue, but Kei silences him with a look and the young thrush takes the ball with a scowl. As he turns to go inside, the ibis looks up at the cat, the peculiar increase in his pulse making him frown.

"You're _very_ late." He says with level boredom, but he's sure there's a catch that he didn't intend that makes it much more _severe_.

Kuroo stops in front of him with a long look and Kei's brow furrows as he takes in the black cat. His shoulders sag a bit more than usual, his eyes dull— even the clear one, his ears are flicked backward in a look of distress or discontent, and circles rim the undersides of his eyes. The cat doesn't just look exhausted, he looks almost _broken._

"Oi. I hope you've got a half decent reason." He murmurs when Kuroo doesn't answer, his heartbeat increasing yet again.

 _Anger_ , he realizes with surprise.

"Does being caught up with a snake nest count?" He asks flatly and Kei's brows rise.

"You never sent another raven. Do you have any idea how worried everyone has been?" He snaps in a low voice, and Kei is instantly trying to reel his temper back in, because _this_ — this scalding emotion burning through his veins— this is neither something he is experienced with nor prepared for.

People were beneath his notice as a general rule, they rarely ever even had the _chance_ of making him this _livid_. But even as he tries to curb the impulse, he's stepping forward, his hand closing on Kuroo's shirt.

"Yamaguchi hasn't slept in two nights. Bokuto has been massively depressed and it's seriously terrifying that he's surrounded by ropes and rigging every day. Akaashi has been sullen and frazzled just trying to cope with his bipolar leveler. Noya and the others have been asking about you when they send ravens, and we've had nothing to tell them." He spits, and hates how it feels like he's lost all control. The cat stares at him with an even, unblinking gaze.

"And you, blondy?" He asks, and Kei loses his hold on his temper like he hasn't legitimately done in _centuries_.

"I'm fucking _pissed_." He growls into the cat's face.

 _No._

 _No, no, no. He really needs to get things back under control. He needs to slow his breathing and pulse, needs to release Kuroo's shirt. He doesn't get angry— just like he doesn't care._

The cat watches him with a decidedly lacking expression, a brow creeping up his forehead.

"This I can see." He murmurs and despite the cat's overall lackluster demeanor, the response is so _Kuroo_ that Kei loses all train of thought.

He _does_ let go of Kuroo's shirt. But that arm cocks back and flys forward to connect solidly with the black cat's jaw amid a fuzzy white blanketing feeling in his mind. And before he can process it, words are falling from his mouth as Kuroo stumbles, sharp and accusing.

"Now you can feel it."

He stares down the black cat as he straightens back up, the slightest huff of appreciative amusement whispering from his lungs. Kei expects to be defending himself from a retaliation; he did, after all, just punch Kuroo. But the cat just looks back at him with a bizarre apathy that is reminiscent of Kenma.

"Do you feel better?" He asks and Kei's rationality slides a little more.

He just hit this damned furball; the cat should be far more upset. And Kei has the completely juvenile urge to bring that fury to the surface, do whatever he can to make the cat every bit as irate as he is himself. Kei is used to shutting people down with a handful of words, but this is the first time he's spoken with the intention of getting a rise. _Needs_ to get that reaction, because he's honestly thrown off by the cat's lack.

"I will fucking _skin_ you, you bastard." He sneers and the cat… nods?

"You're within your rights to be upset. I know better than most anyone how stressful it is to care about someone enough that you fear you might lose them." He says with a frown and Kei glares at him.

"Bull. If that were true, you wouldn't have put everyone through that." He says icily and the cat draws in a heavy breath and releases it in a sigh that leaves him entirely unsure, his anger losing steam.

"You're right, Tsukki. I should have kept up, no matter the circumstance. I should have done things differently, should have made other choices. I failed and for that, I'm sorry."

The use of Yamaguchi's familiar for his name is distracting as hell, and the frank acknowledgement of his negligence leaves Kei feeling as if he's had his feet cut out from under him. The cat nods once and moves to step around him, but the ibis is still struggling to rationalize his sudden compliance and his hand shoots out and grabs Kuroo's shoulder.

"What the hell. You apologize and that's supposed to be it?" He asks and the cat takes a gentle, but firm hold of his hand and removes it, another soft exhale leaving his lungs.

"Go home, Tsukki. The others should be getting there about now. I have to talk to Sugawara's relatives a moment, but I'll send the raven for Noya and the others, so go ahead." He says, ignoring Kei's question and he frowns darkly.

"I'm not finished, Cat." He barks shrugging away his grasp on his arm.

"Well _I am_ , Tsukki." Kuroo says with a heavy cutting tone, turning a cold look on him.

Kei pulls up short, because while Kuroo can get brisk and even annoyed, he _doesn't_ issue unspoken and indirect orders like this… because that is what that was— an order to drop it. And he's never had an expression so tortured and devoid of warmth.

"I've been through enough hell the past three days to last me a lifetime, and _more_ than enough to ignite an eternal guilt in my soul anytime I remember it without you busting my balls even further. Go home, Tsukki." He says flatly and turns away from him once more, just as Taji bursts back out the door.

Kei watches as Kuroo easily scoops him up without a word and meets the boy's parents at the door with a nod. Kei knows the black cat is much more like him and not generally comfortable around kids, but he holds the boy with such careful fondness— as if he's terrified the child might break, but unable to bear the thought— that it flips a switch in Kei's head.

 _Something happened_.

 _The others should be getting there about now._ Kuroo hadn't said _who_.

And in an instant, dread is curling in Kei's gut. His limbs react on impulse despite how his mind feels like it just plunged five meters under water. He spins, his wings jerkily snapping him into the air, the feathers splayed wide with each stroke to gain as much traction against the air as possible in a bid to reach top speed in record time. He's barely cleared the trees at the edge of town in his rush, his mind spinning.

Kei didn't care about people. He didn't. But…

 _I've been through enough hell the past three days to last me a lifetime._

As he drops across the sand that stretches out between himself and the home he hasn't been to in ten days, his wings are starting to lose feeling from the way he strains them.

Kei didn't care about people.

 _I know better than most anyone how stressful it is to care about someone enough that you fear you might lose them._

As the net and top of the house come into view, the ibis grits his teeth with a scoff.

Kei didn't care about people… but hell if he wasn't _damn_ invested in everyone's wellbeing.

As he drops on the sand outside, he's met with an odd stillness and he pulls in a breath trying to stabilize his erratic pulse. There's a wagon out front that he's never seen before, but there's no one around and no horses that are normally used to pull that type of cart. A mound of blankets sits in the box, dusty and disturbed, and his ears almost feel as if they are muting over before a soft sound from inside draws his attention. The front door opens and an orange head of hair he knows all too well steps through, his attention focused behind him.

"Yeah, I know. I'm just going to check on them." He says quietly to someone behind him and a small breath escapes the ibis.

If Hinata was fine, so was Feathers. And 'them' implied the others were still here, right? The redhead lets the door close with care, the action far more subdued for someone like the small spiker who occasionally rivaled Noya and Tanaka on volume level. When he turns around, he freezes at the sight of Kei, and the blond is struck by the way he looks haggard just like Kuroo had. He stands at the top of the steps for several moments before pulling in a little breath and drawing himself up as if bracing for a coming impact. He steps off the porch, padding right up in front of the ibis. His nervousness is blatantly obvious and his silence is rapidly putting Kei back on edge.

"Hey, Tsukki." He murmurs quietly and Kei blinks.

 _Really? The shrimp, too? Did he look like some pitifully miserable moron who needed to be coddled with some ridiculous pet name or something? What_ exactly _was he doing wrong in projecting his dislike of that sobriquet?_

Kei ignores the way it irks him coming from the redhead. Right now, the other boy's subdued attitude is grating on his stability; what he _really_ wants to know…

"What happened, Hinata." He says, his voice keeping impressively level for how very off balance he feels after the barrage of emotions he's gone through in the last fifteen minutes. The redhead's almond eyes avert and he looks at the ground, his bottom lip catching in his teeth.

"Ano…" he says softly, "there's something you should probably know."

 _What? What should I know? Don't just say something as useless as that, idiot._

The redhead reaches forward tentatively and catches his wrist, a completely baffling action. He tugs on it, beckoning him forward after him, but refusing to meet his gaze. The dread is back as he trails after the redhead, his gaze straying to the front door as Kageyama steps through it. The avian heir's expression is devoid of pretty much all emotion, his eyes sunken with fatigue like Hinata's, his complexion pale.

 _God dammit, what the hell happened?_

"Eto… I know you won't like it," Hinata says softly, "I mean, I know you don't like kids, but…" Kei's brow furrows in complete bewilderment.

 _Eh…kids? What…_

What did that have to do with the sun or tides or _anything?_ And why is Kageyama watching him with such a tired expression? That damn crow had a permanent scowl affixed to his face and it's fucking _missing,_ and nothing makes any _sense._

 _What is going on?_

A shrill giggle echoes from around the house and he hears the gruff voice of Tanaka.

"Oi, don't just jump like that! I'm not observant enough to notice all your obliviously suicidal ideas before you initiate them." The bald crow grouses. Kei blinks and the redhead pauses and turns back to him with a determined look.

"I know you don't like kids, but you can't kill this one." He says releasing him as Tanaka rounds the corner, trailed by a pair of sweaty horses from the reins in one hand, a bundle of squirming child under the other arm.

"Oh, Tsukishima. Good to see you, Blondy. Oi, Natsu. We have company." He says with a nod in his direction and promptly sets the kid back on her feet.

The first thing Kei notices are her wings. They are in pitiful condition, the feathers having been hacked down to the embedded quills; she can probably fly as well as any of the cats… or Hinata or a bald winged Feathers. The next thing he notices is the orange hair, a direct match to the shrimp's. The kid stares at him for several moments before she pads over cautiously to the small spiker, her brow furrowing just a bit.

"Kiyès sa?" She says and Kei's head tilts in bafflement as Hinata turns to her with a frown.

"Eh… sorry, what?" He asks apologetically. The little girl points at him.

"Non?" She asks and Hinata's face smooths out.

 _A foreign language?_

"Oh! This is Tsukishima. He's an ibis." He says easily before turning toward him with an unnerving amount of excitement that makes him look quite demented with his pallid appearance. "Tsukishima, this is my sister, Natsu." Kei frowns, barely able to believe what he's hearing.

"Sister?" He echoes.

"Yep, we stumbled across her by pure chance."

"What happened to her wings?" He asks, unable to stop himself and the kid frowns up at him.

"Pi bon pase ou genyen. Blan zèl pa bèl." She mumbles.

"Natsu!" Hinata says with an embarrassed frown.

"What'd she say?" Kageyama asks, a small smile tugging on his mouth— and Kei turns to look at the redhead, because he's curious, too.

"Eh— it's probably not something I should repeat." The bald crow smirks.

"That probably means it was something hilarious. Come on." The redhead peeks up at him uncertainly.

"She um… I think she said she'd rather have her wings than yours." Kei deadpans as Tanaka laughs.

 _Not killing this kid is already going to be a challenge, he can tell_.

"Well as much fun as it might be to sit back and watch her make an ass out of you, we have to figure out what we are going to do with these guys." The bald crow says around his mirth, a thumb jerking toward the horses that he's just brought back from getting a drink at the stream.

"Any ideas, Hinata?" When the redhead bounces over to Tanaka, his little mimic following after him, Kei has to marvel at how easily the boy is distracted.

"What about Takeda's place where we play in the winter…" He says easily and Kei glances over at Feathers, an eyebrow creeping up his forehead.

"So… Kuroo was unusually moody over having adopted some random kid? Because between you and me, Crow Prince, that's a pretty weak argument." There's the slightest irritation in Kageyama's glance, but the avian heir's normal aggression is markedly absent.

"Natsu _is_ Hinata's sister. But she isn't the reason Kuroo's so cross. We um… we almost didn't make it." He says and Kei briefly wonders if he's stepped into an alternate dimension, because Feathers talking to him in any kind of civil manner is unheard of.

The crow princeling nods at him and holds the door on the porch open in invitation. The personality swings of the black-haired crow and his leveler are unnerving and Kei immediately casts about for anything that might seem out of place as he warily starts for the porch. Kuroo was the one who stopped into town, so Kenma must also be fine, but… he hasn't seen Sugawara and Sawamura.

"We got caught in a snake nest." Feathers says quietly, breaking his thoughts. "It's a miracle we're alive. Still," He murmurs, leading the way inside with a frown of torment, "We almost lost them." He finishes with a nod.

And as Kei steps through the door, he's met with a sight he isn't prepared for. The golden cat is lightly draping a blanket across Suga and Daichi, both sleeping soundly… but the thrush is ghostly pale and his wings glow brightly.

 _Meaning he's injured._

"It's um, not just when wings are hurt that they light up. No matter where, if the injury is bad enough, they glow anyway. We… didn't think Suga would make it." Kageyama murmurs at his shoulder. "He's still not 'fine' exactly, but Kuroo refused to let us stay in one place too long. The snakes are moving around right now— the nest we were in? Kuroo said it was toppled. I'm not positive how he did it, but I have a hunch. The sentries disappeared from the area didn't they?"

Kei glances at him sharply before nodding once.

"Thought so. Kuroo took drastic risks to save our lives. And even then, we were pretty sure we were going to be bringing them home in shrouds. Daichi's probably going to have wings like mine when he molts next fall." He says, watching the sleeping level pair with a troubled gaze. That distress irritates Kei, even as his gaze slides to the avian prince's white tipped feathers.

"I suppose I should be impressed you all came back then. Plus one even." He drawls and cobalt eyes flash his way with a touch of annoyance, but there's… amusement there, too.

" _That_ is its own story." He murmurs with a smirk before watching Kenma pull out more bedding. "Heh, we have a new level pair." Kei jerks slightly.

"Level Pair? Tanaka and…?" Kageyama's smirk widens just a bit.

"Yeah, took us off guard, too."

"How did they figure this out?" The crow prince shrugs.

"I don't think _they_ realize it yet. They're probably the only two that have slept since we left the nest. Tanaka caught a bolt in his wing and Natsu… well, she's been pinioned, so they both glow." Kei's mouth drops, the revelation of the bald crow and the kid being levelers neatly pushed aside.

"Pinioned? What the _fuck_." He mutters.

"She's been a captive in the snake nest for centuries; Suga didn't think she's ever flown. She seems normal for the most part, but… she does things sometimes." He says, his gaze dropping into a steep frown. "Like she literally clung to Tanaka for over a day after we got her out. Or you raise a hand to scratch your head or something and she'll flinch. You won't hear it so much around Shouyou or Tanaka, but if she says 'regrèt', it means 'sorry'. It's her automatic response if you've startled her or something.

"As far as we can tell, they never did anything more permanent other than the pinioning, but you don't need to physically injure to cause pain. You asked about her wings. We were guessing that was how they would punish her when she did something 'wrong', because they weren't like that even a week ago. That kid might, um— might have more baggage than any of the rest of us. I've never… been more grateful that Momma Yu brought Shouyou back to the rookery when she found him." He says and Kei stares at him.

The door clacks open and Natsu bounces inside, quickly followed by her brother and her… leveler. The very idea strikes him as nothing but bizarre.

 _Why, yes, Kei,_ had _in fact, wanted his world flipped upside down. This is going to take some getting used to._

"What about Noya? We could—"

"If you guys are going to be loud, go back outside. You will wake them." Kenma cuts the redhead off with a flat look and he slaps his hand over his mouth with wide yes.

Kageyama drifts toward his leveler and Kei finds himself evaluating the interactions between the girl child and bald crow. They are uncannily familiar with each other to the point that Kei can almost _see_ the comfort the other's presence brings even if every touch or word is nothing but platonic.

He frowns slightly and slips back out the door, silence and solitude his only desire. Feeling rather wrung out, he leans against the railing, his gaze watching the red light from the setting sun break across the waves of the ocean.

 _The universe must really be laughing,_ he muses sardonically. It's always been like this, though. Ever since he was little, it's been fucking with him, but this… this somehow seems to take the cake.

Yamaguchi isn't his leveler.

He's found no one else on the planet he could ever tolerate like he did the freckled crow— no one else he _wanted_ to. There is nobody whose company he prefers more, no one he'd sacrifice as much for. There's no one he cares about as much as he does Yamaguchi… but they aren't levelers.

He's been with the crow for centuries and neither of them have ever glowed with their injuries. Yamaguchi had even sprained his wing literally days before meeting the cats and freak pair, so they'd had a perfect opportunity to test it out… but there had been nothing. No freaky glowing like Kageyama and Hinata. Tadashi had never said a word, but Kei was all but positive that knowledge had put him out for weeks.

"Hey."

Kei blinks and looks down to find the golden cat just off his elbow with a luminous look full of study.

"Kenma."

"It's a lot, huh." He says and Kei has the presence of mind to recognize that the socially stunted cat is attempting to start a conversation. Which means he has something to say. Kei isn't sure he cares at the moment… but indulges the cat and offers a response all the same.

"We were all waiting wondering what happened to you guys." Kenma looks blandly toward the waves.

"We were caught in the middle of a figurative typhoon. The last week _has_ been pretty tough." He murmurs and a spark of ire hits Kei's gut again.

"You mean to say that at no point, you had even a couple moments to send a raven stating that you were at least still alive?" The cat looks back at him with a minimal frown.

"So much happened that things fell through the cracks. Tsukishima, can I ask you for something?" Kenma says, his head tilting and brows furrowing. The golden cat rarely speaks to him at all, and Kei watches him with wary curiosity despite the well-practiced look of disinterest on his face. The small feline seems to take it as an invitation.

"Go easy on your ribbing for a couple weeks… at least for Shouyou and Kuroo. The others will probably hold up fine, but those two are fragile at the moment." Surprise flits through his expression for just an instant before a disparaging smirk tugs at his mouth.

"Fragile my pinfeathers." He mutters but the cat shakes his head once.

"Shouyou is struggling to reconcile two very harsh realities that one hopes they never have to. Trading one life for another— especially when you consider them equally important or nearly so— is something that can destroy you. And when you take a life for the first time, even if you survive, there's a part of you that still dies. Shouyou has yet to come to terms with things that happened at the nest, and nearly losing the thrush and crow— the leadership backbone of their former unit, has only exacerbated it. He's nearly been through two breakdowns already… Shouyou is indeed fragile right now." The cat says quietly and the ibis is quietly stunned for the— how many times has he been off balance today?

 _Hinata killed people?_ Kei frowns in consideration before his umber eyes slide back to the small cat's intent golden orbs.

"And our rabid furball commander?" He drawls and Kenma looks away.

"You might want to watch your remarks for you own safety. It's been years since he was last like this, but you're just as likely to lose teeth as you are to see him falter under pressure if you harass him. Kuroo is the kind of person who, no matter the mistakes anyone else might have made, he will never blame anyone but himself for anything that goes wrong."

"That's a stupid mentality. You can't keep idiots from being idiots."

"But you can still protect them." Kei's frown deepens despite the cat's amusing lack of contention on the 'idiot' point.

"Not always."

"You're more right than you will ever know, Tsukishima, no matter how Kuroo might try to prove you wrong." He says, leaning onto the railing beside him.

"We used to have a large clan, Kuroo and I. Centuries ago, but there were almost twenty of us at one point. There's only he and I left, so I'll let you draw your conclusions. The last time I saw Kuroo like this, we'd just lost two people, a level pair, our last two besides ourselves. The time before that was when he lost that eye, but the injury was hardly the reason. I'd have been unreachable and untraceable once I'd been put on a boat bound for the continent; he'd have never seen me again.

"Kuroo doesn't handle loss or even the threat of it. He spirals— and that makes him volatile. And he knows that. But no matter the mental risk, he always shoulders it because he can't _not_ care. I chose to be his leveler and grounding point— his one constant, because no matter how it hurts, he readily opens himself back up to that inevitable pain. And for that, I could never call him a coward. I love Kuroo because he can't be anything but who he is and at his core, he cares about others ever before himself.

"But he's like everyone else. He's not invincible and he isn't immune to despair. He must be approached with the same respect and regard as everyone else and I will safeguard his sanity to the very best of my ability. If you can't curb your barbs at least for a short while, I will resort to other means to see you do for the sake of all involved." The golden cat says with a small smile and nods toward the east.

Kei follows his gaze up the beach warily, Kenma's threat ringing with disconcerting clarity in his head on the heels of a lecture that is more than Kei's heard him speak in the last three years combined. And against the red sky, he catches sight of incoming shapes— three.

 _Yamaguchi and the owls._

Kenma turns to leave but pauses a moment.

"I hope you consider it at least. You would be afforded the same courtesy." He murmurs, the smile still there, honest and benign.

The cat hadn't meant to alarm him in any way; he'd merely intended to inform him. Which somehow makes his threat that much more unsettling. Kei watches the cat step back inside silently, his mind clicking through his words.

The ibis doesn't go back inside the rest of the evening. Not to join Yamaguchi in reassuring himself that everyone really is all back and okay. Not when Bokuto and Akaashi freak the crap out of Natsu until Tanaka and Hinata calm her down. Not when their last six members finally show up as the sun is dropping behind the ocean horizon. Not when Asahi has to restrain Noya from irately picking a fight with Kuroo for having not been with the rest of the Karasuno group when they needed help, for letting Suga get so injured. Not when Hinata exuberantly tells his brother and anyone who will listen about how Sugawara let slip the _real_ nature of his and Daichi's relationship. Not to join the others in scoping out places to sleep around the injured thrush and his crow leveler as night begins falling in earnest.

When the freckled crow finds him still on the porch as night is dropping into deeper blackness, his face pulled into a tired but happy smile, Kei's face set into an unreadable mask.

"If we don't go get a place soon, we might be sleeping out here." He says, the tension of the last ten days gone from his shoulders, mild content present in all of his features. The crow is truly happy here, surrounded by these people… and Kei can't fault him for it.

"Yamaguchi."

"What's up, Tsukki?"

"What do you think about taking that trip to the mountains after the first frost?" He asks, his voice quiet. The crow's hazel eyes leap to his face, surprise zipping through their shadows. Kei looks back at him, open and honest, waiting only for the freckled crow to give the word. A small smile settles across his mouth, the corners of his eyes crinkling just a bit.

"I'd like that."

Honestly, he'd almost suggested it last fall, but Kuroo had mentioned the snakes moving around, and he'd discarded it for another time… but if he keeps putting it off, it will never come to pass. And it was something Yamaguchi had asked for, a soft smile on his face at the time not unlike the one he wears now. Except the one that stretches his mouth now is better… there is no wistful hope, just mild happiness accented with a slight darkening in his cheeks. Kei wishes he'd look like this more often.

 _I love Kuroo because he can't be anything but who he is._

Kei doesn't know what love is.

He's felt nothing in his life that was so definitively profound that he could have termed it 'love'. He's had no groundbreaking moment of realization or a point where everything was somehow different. He is sure he _was_ loved… his parents had told him often enough when he was very small, and his memories of them are colored with nothing but warmth and concern. He's sure his brother probably loves him as well, although he hasn't seen him in centuries so that may have changed. But Akiteru had also showered him with quiet affection, had radiated pride at being his brother, and had likewise sought to shelter him from the world. The big common takeaway that he gets from those relationships is, at its root, the desire to keep someone else safe.

But one can desire to protect something for ulterior reasons— even possessiveness for completely selfish motives could be skewed to fit that bill. He turns back toward the beach, his umber gaze seeking out Yamaguchi.

If there is one thing he'd want to protect, it would be the freckled crow.

He's quiet and kind, brilliantly smart, loyal to a fault, and he adores kids. He likes the strangest foods— seriously, _soggy potatoes_ , really? He enjoys sleeping in and he hates earthquakes as the tremor three days ago had reminded him so well; the crow had nearly had a panic attack.

Yamaguchi is shy, often hanging back as a wall flower, but Kei has seen a quiet strength within him, feels it slip to the surface on occasion. He's frequently timid, but every blue moon or so, he will actually rise against Kei, himself.

It had even happened in the last year.

Kei _had_ toyed briefly with the idea of seeing if a leveler bond could be completed between a cat and avian after learning of the thread between himself and Kuroo, if for no other reason than in the spirit of discovery. The cat was, at the very least tolerable, and Kei had imagined it might not be hell to be tied to him for the rest of his life, but when he'd idly voiced the thought to Yamaguchi, the crow had gone dead still before rising to his feet, his entire frame rigid. The freckled crow hadn't been able to meet his gaze at first, but his voice had escaped in an icy candor.

"Why would you destroy two people like that?" He'd asked and it had definitely caught Kei off guard.

"It wasn't a serious idea—"

"Then why even consider it? You have to be either stupid or blind to not see how much Kuroo and Kenma care about each other. They are all but levelers already, they _live_ for each other. You would come between them on the whim of _curiosity?_ "

The crow's snapping eyes had jerked up to his with a fierce glare. Kei himself had been quietly stunned to see the meek crow standing over him, his wings agitated into a threatening display. His mind had told him to backtrack, because this was something the crow legitimately felt strongly about, but his mouth had already been running.

" _Stupid_ , Yamaguchi? You're completely overreacting; it's not a big deal." Kei had said dismissively. The crow's face had smoothed into incredulity.

"Not a big deal." He'd echoed in a dead voice and he'd looked away with a scoff and a pained grin that had left Kei's chest feeling somehow tight, and he'd wanted to do something he'd never had the urge to before, and take the words back.

"That's right," Yamaguchi had continued, his hands fisting, "I forget, other people don't matter to you, their lives are merely a passing notion. My mistake, I'll remember next time." He'd said stiffly and stalked off, leaving Kei absolutely steeped in suffocating emotions that had made him want to crawl into a hole somewhere and sleep for the next hundred years while that confrontation blew over.

Yamaguchi had been wrong.

While _most_ people don't matter to him— a number he is grudgingly being forced to admit isn't _quite_ as large as it was three years ago, there is _one_ person who matters more than any other.

Kei doesn't know what love is.

Because if love is the desire to protect something, then he doesn't feel love. Wanting to keep Yamaguchi safe...that's just a symptom— a side effect— of the underlying feeling at its center.

If Kei has his way, Yamaguchi will never again wear an expression like the one he'd put on his face that day. If Kei has his way, Yamaguchi will never again feel the emotions that generated it. Kei doesn't just want to protect the crow, Kei would see him content.

And fate and leveler bonds can burn in hell. There is no one else he would want to face the future with.

A/N: Ahhh... year three arc concluded- and on a LONG chapter at that (almost 9000 words, goodbye 100k word milestone). I thought about splitting it, but eh, have a bit of emotionally invested Tsukki and a little Tsukkiyama with your sigh of relief.

None of you would know this, but in every novel I haven't taken to a publisher (all of them, lol), one of my big pivotal characters always ends up biting it. I have a penchant for killing AT LEAST one high impact character and I SERIOUSLY almost killed those two... what saved them is that they are a significant part of the Karasuno team in the series and it felt wrong to kill them off before they'd even graduated after winning nationals- i.e. if I were writing this another couple years or so from now, I might have XD

Well, you can all sleep easy again for the night; I am going to go for some ice cream after this one. Have a wonderful evening, guys!


	27. Year Three,80 1-4 Pivotal Calamity

**YEAR THREE.80 1/4 Pivotal Calamity**

It's difficult, when faced with a situation you cannot control, to admit you can do nothing. ~Lemony Snicket

~ Ten Months Later; Early Spring ~

 **Kenma Kozume** follows Shouyou, Noya, and Yachi through the small village that sits within striking distance of one of the Karasuno rookery's main checkpoints on their sentry scouting routes, but the outpost is silent today.

The avian city will lie empty a few more weeks yet before the murder returns from their yearly migration, and spring has offered them promising weather the last week. The thaw had spurred an impulse decision on Kuroo's part to come to this small hamlet nestled in the mountains for their spring herald festival and Kenma has to smile.

This village's festival some centuries back had marked the first time he and the black cat had come out of hiding and simply relaxed into the joyous atmosphere following Kuroo losing his eye and their subsequent flight. The small cat remembers their food and fireworks well amid his leveler's quiet smiles at the decorations along the stalls. If he could go back in time, he'd tell his younger self not to worry, everything works out and he gets to keep the large black cat.

There is still some snow on the ground, but rivers are running high and the first hints of life are stirring along the edges of the drifts, but they are all distracted by the wonderful food and company. They've just gone through the main market and Kenma is sure they tried _every_ stand; he's beyond uncomfortably full. Kuroo steers them toward the local temple to give thanks for surviving another winter with a pointed glance at the ibis who stares back at him with complete disinterest. Kenma mentally smirks.

The pale winged avian had done as he'd asked and laid off Shouyou and Kuroo, opting instead to spend days in Sheru Bay running the ledger for Suga's relatives, but he and Yamaguchi had gone for a sabbatical in the mountains the first month of winter at the whim of the freckled crow. Never mind that the ibis wasn't adapted for winter weather, the tall blond had stalwartly decreed that he was overdue for an escape from the rest of their company so he and the freckled crow were going _alone_.

They'd been gone nearly two weeks and were supposed to be gone for two more when they showed back up with a half-panicking Yamaguchi shoving the taller nonplussed, yet sick avian at Kiyoko, begging her to save him. Tsukishima had been most unimpressed and had told them he just had a cold… except it had rapidly degenerated into full blown pneumonia within the week.

He'd been little more than slightly flushed when they'd stumbled back home, but he'd quickly come down with a monstrous fever that he completely denied existed because 'if he was so warm, then why the _hell_ did he feel like he was shivering so damn badly?' The ibis had spent the next two months huddled in blankets and ten times as sour as normal, and the majority of winter found him inside either sulking or sleeping for his misadventure.

So it had been a surprise that he'd readily requested to join when Kuroo had mentioned the festival; even Yamaguchi had asked if he was sure. The ibis hadn't even had to scold the freckled crow before he was apologizing. Yamaguchi had been belatedly stoked to go for an adventure, and Kenma hadn't missed the way the ibis had quietly watched his excitement with reserved fondness.

Yachi and Kiyoko had opted to join then in the event the tall blond became ill once more. It would be good for the girls to get out as they rarely ever managed to escape the beach house— not that they minded overmuch. Nishinoya and Shouyou had been only too happy to come, their traveling itch nearly burning their feet already. But Kageyama had hesitated slightly, because with the last season turn, Shouyou had started waking in the morning, his back stiff enough that it would take him a couple hours to really get moving.

Those mornings aren't that common but… today is a bad day, and Kenma can tell that he's dragging. He'd risen while the sun was still grey with everyone else, but he hadn't been as unfailingly bright or chatty; Kenma personally felt his stiff movements were probably the result of having spent the night on the hard ground which had tweaked his back. But he wasn't sure others much noticed it, because Shouyou himself never voiced his pain; rather, the most obvious indicator that something was off was the way Kageyama _hovered_.

He was rarely far from his leveler, but on days like this, he didn't leave the redhead's side. One _could_ argue that his clinginess was more the product of being in an unfamiliar area, but Kenma'd been on enough of these trips to know that _today's_ episode probably isn't that. The crow setter is never more than two steps away and at the moment, he too, is watching the redhead chatter merrily with Noya and Yachi as they climb the steps to the village's temple.

A few paces ahead of them, the ibis and freckled crow lead the way, oblivious to the fact that they are, in fact, heading in the wrong direction. Kenma is on the verge of saying something when Kuroo speaks for him just over his shoulder.

"Oi. Hang a right, you guys."

The two pause and turn to look at them, the reaction like a catalyst that makes the others all do the same.

"What?" Yamaguchi asks with confusion.

"That won't get you to the temple. You need to go right."

The ibis glances back toward the lights and outline of the building up the hill that is just visible through the trees, it's large entrance gate the most prominent feature on the edge of the incline. He turns back to Kuroo with a bored look.

"We can see it and there's nothing that goes right." He says, unimpressed.

"Yeah, but you've never been here before, and your sense of direction sucks." Nishinoya points out. Kenma's mouth twitches… because technically, Noya isn't _wrong_ on either count.

"Tsukki has excellent sense of direction—"

"Shut up Yamaguchi." The ibis mutters, an eyebrow ticking slightly as he fixes on the short crow. "Why would the cobbles go left— you know, the way all the people going— if they don't go to the temple?" He asks. Kenma smiles slightly.

"The zen garden is that way. Most of them are bringing their lunch to eat there." He says quietly.

"The climb has only begun, Blondy. The path is to the right just around that bend. Most people make that mistake the first time they come here." Kuroo says and Kenma can _hear_ the smirk in his voice and mentally huffs in amusement.

"You were one of them." He murmurs flatly and starts for the small hidden path that winds up the hill with its inlaid stone steps. Kuroo scoffs.

"Brat." He mutters and Kenma barely keeps the smile off his face.

The others all make to follow him when he catches sharp movement as the freckled crow flinches sharply. He isn't the only one who saw his recoil and the ibis turns to look at him critically.

"Eh, sorry Tsukki." He says, a hand coming up behind his head as a sheepish grin creases his mouth, but the skin around his eyes is creased with tension and his pupils are dilated.

"Yamaguchi?" The ibis asks and he brings his hands up in front of himself.

"I'm fine! Really! I just thought… I don't know what I thought." He says, his eyes dropping to the ground before he almost visually hardens in resolve and looks back up at Tsukishima.

"We should go! If everyone is eating in the zen garden, that means it's a great time to visit the temple because there won't be many people there. And not many kids!" He says brightly. The ibis watches him for a long moment before letting it go, and Kenma turns to lead them toward the stairs once more.

But the crow's sudden startle has him thinking.

There is little that can shake Yamaguchi aside from a callous word from his constant companion, Tsukishima, but it's become apparent in the last few months that there is something that _will_ — something that will nearly paralyze the crow with fear _every_ time it happens. Kenma isn't sure… he didn't notice anything just now, but he keeps an ear cocked in the freckled crow's direction as they start up the hill.

Yachi and Hinata start up a bubbly conversation about Natsu about how sullen the girl had been when she'd been told she had to stay home for this trip. The bald crow, Asahi and Daichi had all been recruited to assist with renovating Sheru Bay's single multi-storied inn. As strange as it was to know that Natsu and Tanaka were levelers, no one was willing to split them up for any length of time.

Like Shouyou, she glows at night when she curls up with Tanaka, a fact that had, in no uncertain terms, freaked the bald crow out the first time he'd noticed. It had literally taken a week, and only then because Noya had taken pity on him and prodded him awake after the girl had fallen asleep in his arms once again, her head and arm flopped over his shoulder.

He'd nearly dropped her as if she'd scalded him, a pathetic strangled squeak escaping him. Even in the middle of his shock, though, he'd been loath to disturb her, and while _he_ hadn't found any more sleep that night, he'd made sure he hadn't disturbed her.

Although, he'd promptly handed her off to Asahi still half asleep the next morning with a fond pat and headed into Sheru Bay seeking manual labor. He'd been recruited to help put up a barn a little ways out of town that had taken him away from the beach house for three days, during which time the rest of them had had to deal with an inconsolable Natsu.

She'd quietly remained with Asahi all of three hours before seeking out Shouyou. She'd followed him around for the next day, half whimpering and asking after Tanaka until Shouyou had volunteered to join Kageyama on a hunt in a not so subtle bid for a break. She'd cycled through each of Yamaguchi, Kiyoko and Yachi, the still injured Sugawara, Bokuto in a strangely unsurprising turn given the way Shouyou had taken to him, Lev, back to Asahi and Noya, himself, and even Kuroo over the next day.

The child had been all but lost without Tanaka around to tag along after like the older brother he totally was around her. When the bald crow had finally returned, she had barrelled out of the house at the sound of his voice and frozen at the top step, her hands behind her back and her gaze solemn. Tanaka had seen her, and apparently having come to terms with the state of the universe, had made a beeline for her.

"Hey, Munchkin! Long time, no see!" He'd said and reached for her only to jump when she'd flinched slightly, her gaze dropping.

"M' regrèt." She'd whispered and he'd recoiled as much at the apology as the tears that had started sliding down her cheeks as she'd whimpered out a fractured question.

"Kisa mwen fè mal?"

He'd glanced around for Shouyou, but the redhead hadn't been in earshot.

"Hey, kiddo, what's the matter?" He'd said, climbing the steps and crouching down beside her.

"I do bad?" She'd tried and Tanaka's jaw had dropped.

He'd reached out, completely disregarding her shy at the motion, and collected her up on his hip in a hug despite her probably being too old for the action. She really was nearly an adolescent, but it had seemed to quell the oncoming fit of tears even if only marginally.

"You did nothing wrong, Munchkin. I had to go work for a couple days, that's all." She'd clung to him as the little sobs slowly subsided, her hand fisting into his shirt and head on his shoulder as he rubbed her back.

"I come with?" She'd whimpered.

"What, to work? I'd have to ask. The boss has a kid your age, I think." He'd said with a small smile.

And that had been it. Things had returned to normal, the bald crow her de facto best friend once more. Honestly, Kenma couldn't believe they still had a house what with some of the stunts those two had pulled along with Noya and Shouyou. They'd attempted to flatten Kageyama on more than one occasion beneath a _pile_ of avians, had managed to tie up Bokuto with his own ropes which Akaashi found hysterical, had drizzled sand into a sleeping Kuroo's ear until he'd woken up swinging, had cracked _another_ egg over Daichi much to the thrush's infinite amusement, and even doused _Tsukishima_ with a bucket of icy water from the creek.

Even Kenma himself wasn't immune to the pranks. Late last fall, he'd woken up surrounded by apples. She was as observant as her brother and had picked up on Kuroo's habit of bringing him the sweet fruit… but the kid was nowhere even _close_ to the quiet end of the sound scale, so how she'd managed to go out in the early morning to collect them and then return and place them all around him without either him or Kuroo waking, he has no clue.

There was a particularly volatile one they'd come up with just recently involving a reed packed with pine resin and black powder, no doubt procured from Bokuto off one of the ships in the bay. They'd touched it off in the grey hours of the morning just outside on the porch while most of them were still asleep; the concussive force of it had rocked the house and cracked the glass in the large front window. Everyone had had fuzzy hearing for the next day and more than one person had singed feathers or fur. Kuroo and Daichi had been most unimpressed. The black cat had been looking for a way to alleviate the apparently growing restlessness ever since.

Kenma imagines _everyone_ might have joined this little trip if the early spring thaw hadn't spurred the locals to restart their construction projects. Tanaka's services had once again come into demand, but he'd offered up the assistance of anyone else interested. Natsu had been allowed to join him, and Asahi and Daichi had both taken him up on that. Koushi would, of course, always opt to stay with his leveler, and the owls still had their dock jobs. Lev and Yaku had begged out at the last moment on account of the short cat feeling guilty just leaving the others to fend for themselves after working all day.

As they crest the last few steps and cross under the temple gate, it's beams decorated with the spring festival theme, Kenma smiles slightly. They'd spent the day in this little town some three hundred years ago and had watched their firework display from atop that gate that evening.

The temple is just how he remembers, the exterior brickwork walls and tiled roof still intact and functional. He supposes normal wear and tear is to be expected; the mortar between the blocks is perhaps crumbling slightly, the wood of its front steps has warped, and the arch across its top line eve sags a little more lending it more of an 'ancient' look.

Still, it's the same as the first time he and Kuroo had seen it over three centuries before, and it had been old back then. Already having stood for four or five hundred years when they'd stumbled upon it the first time, it is probably pushing close to a thousand, and to see it still taken care of makes Kenma smile.

The open interior smells of pine and cedar overlaid with incense despite the open shoji doors that welcome in the spring air and he's nearly overwhelmed by a sense of deja vu. Kuroo had asked him to stay beside him here three hundred years ago, as if there had ever been a question of whether he'd leave. Kenma really does like this little town.

A sharp gasp behind him comes a half second before he feels it, and he's turning to focus on the freckled crow in an instant. The tremor he'd felt through the soles of his feet just now… it was barely noticeable at best and the only reason he probably did was because it had vibrated through the wood floor of the temple, the building breathing a light sigh as if it were merely settling.

But Yamaguchi's eyes are wide, his mouth open slightly as he watches the rafters with a paling face. His shoulders have drawn up, his hands twist into fists, and his wings are raised in agitation but also pulled tightly against his shoulders.

"Yamaguchi?" Tsukishima is quick to ask, his voice quiet and even. The freckled crow jerks and looks at him, clearly unaware of how terrified he appears.

"Tsukki. S… Sorry." He says looking down.

"Are you alright?" Kiyoko asks softly and Yamaguchi glances at her with surprise.

"Yeah… I'm fine." Kenma hangs back beside the ibis and freckled crow as Yachi, Noya, and the younger level pair drift further into the temple, Kuroo just off his shoulder.

"It might have been anything, Yamaguchi." Kenma offers, but he doubts it helps. The crow is on the verge of stressing himself into a panic attack. A temblor like the one that just occurred isn't that uncommon and pretty much harmless, but the brunette is nearly shaking.

"I'll be alright. Really." He says with a weak smile and Kuroo's eyebrow creeps up his forehead skeptically.

"There was a tea stand back in the market. Would you like me to bring you some?" Tsukishima asks calmly and Yamaguchi blinks at him uncomprehendingly for a couple moments before he smiles slightly— a real one.

"You don't have to, Tsukki."

"What kind would you like?" The ibis asks, completely ignoring the crow's protest.

"Eh… jasmine?" He says and Kenma understands what's going on.

Tsukishima knows how to redirect Yamaguchi's impending anxiety by feeding him information completely jarring to what is going through his head. By asking him to make a decision, he's forcing him out of his own mind and into a thought line both pointless yet meaningful. Kenma marvels silently at Tsukishima's swift capability at combatting an incoming breakdown, quietly awed at how the blond knows exactly what to do to keep the crow calm.

Not for the first time, he wonders at how the seemingly self-centered arrogant ibis is so attuned to the shy insecure crow. But he's grateful for his knowledge and so is Kiyoko who has a better grasp on what to do with it. The female crow fluidly picks up the threads of their conversation and immediately keeps him distracted.

"You like tea, Yamaguchi? Which is your favorite?" She asks lightly as Tsukishima departs, quick strides taking him outside in no time. The crow struggles to focus on her question, but answers nonetheless.

"Um… kukicha." He says in a shaky voice.

"Really? I didn't know that or I would have seen if they had some in Sheru Bay's market." Kiyoko says with a soft smile.

"They don't carry it… I already tried." Yamaguchi says with a weak attempt at a smile.

"Well, where did you last get some? Maybe we can stop on the way back." She says.

As the crow seems to relax just enough to at least be able to hold the conversation with the black-haired girl, Kenma turns toward where his other ear is trained on the other three delinquents and Yachi.

And they _are_ being idiots, crowding into the corner around a drum with excitement, the bunting wearing a puzzled expression. While Tsukishima was combatting Yamaguchi's sudden terror, Kageyama thankfully managed to keep Shouyou from picking up the brushes and splattering ink beside a calligraphy table where Yachi had paused.

The bunting had shyly purchased a blank wood plaque to write on as they'd crested the hill and the others had crowded around to see what she would wish for. Kenma can't blame them; Yachi's handwriting is petite, measured, and graceful, her calligraphy worthy of a library scribe.

Watching her write her wishes for the year, the redhead apparently saw nothing wrong with adding his own notes to her small board, and the avian heir had whacked him across the back of the head, snatched the brush from his hand before it could mar her delicate work, and turned them away as Yachi hung the piece with a small happy smile. But that had quickly spiraled as Noya had spotted a large daiko in the corner.

"Wow, guys, look over there!" He'd said and Kageyama and Shouyou had immediately brightened with vocal agreement and an odd anticipation, Yachi trailing after them a bit bewilderedly.

Which brings them to where they are now, the three former sentries drawn to the drum like Lev is to catmint— Kenma admits that the plant is intoxicatingly alluring, but at least _he_ has some self-control. The two crows and grounded redhead approach it with a sort of reverence, Yachi with simple interest.

"Man, Tanaka should have come!" Noya says with a grin.

"I wonder if it sounds like the ones back home. Remember Saeko at the festivals?" Shouyou says brightly and Kageyama is already grabbing the stick beside it. Kenma's hand reaches out, his eyes widening.

"Kageyama—" He starts to say, but thanks the stars that Yachi is beside them and has the presence of mind to latch onto the crow setter's wrist and stop his swing.

"Won't that be noisy?" She squeaks.

Kenma lets out a half-breath in relief; they are already obnoxiously loud in the mostly empty temple without banging the drum. The monks who run the temple might kick them out if they make too much of a fuss.

"You birdbrain stooges," Kuroo mutters, heading in their direction, "we can't take you anywhere. Leave it be."

Kageyama scowls darkly and releases the bachi stick back to Yachi who carefully returns it to its place. They move forward toward the altar and shrine areas with their candles that flicker in the soft breeze that drifts through the shoji doors, Kuroo within easy striking distance now in case he needs to pull rank. Kenma smirks slightly.

It's like taking the local pack of children to the park, he thinks.

 _I mean, we have the kid who's usually level but randomly has bouts where all inhibition conveniently vacates his head on the heels of a moronic impulse, the two who are_ always _impulsive and feed off each other's idiocy, the kid who is their only voice of reason but terrified to speak up, the kid who is scared to be outside, the kid who hates everyone in the schoolyard, and one reasonably responsible child._

It really was like packing along a daycare for a ridiculous day trip. Kenma starts at the gasp that escapes Yamaguchi behind him again, a half second before the floor legitimately _lurches_.

Kenma throws out his arms to keep his balance, his feet automatically shuffling under him. He straightens a little, but keeps his wider stance, because the movement doesn't stop. The building shivers, the lanterns near the ceiling jarring enough to sway, the candles and shrine pillars rocking on their pedestals. In the flash of a glance he gets before he's looking back at the freckled crow with concern, he sees his leveler and the other four also staggering, the avians' wings jerking out to steady themselves while Kuroo grabs at a support beam.

And then he's staring at Yamaguchi with anxious tension, because the freckled crow has frozen. Kiyoko shakes his arm, attempting to get him to move toward the temple exit, but Yamaguchi doesn't budge, his dilated eyes flicking between the lanterns, to the swinging plank Yachi hung only a few minutes ago, to the swaying shrubs visible from the open shoji doors.

Kenma's limbs leap into action as the floor surges even more, his feet stumbling him forward toward the crow who somehow keeps his balance and his feet pegged to the floor even as it continues to shift and Kiyoko tugs on him.

"Yamaguchi, let's go outside!" She says urgently as Kenma grabs his other arm and tugs, but the crow resists it entirely, his gaze flying to the calligraphy table as the box with brushes tips with a resounding clatter, back to the altar where a shrine pillar rocks off its base and crashes to the floor with a thud. Kenma's mind trips and he's instantly turning back toward the others.

"Kuroo!" He barks and because it doesn't seem like enough when his eyes land on the avians beside him, he's yelping again. "Feathers! Noya!"

The black cat jerks and the others spin. Kageyama starts toward them immediately, tugging Shouyou along haphazardly, but the one that reaches them first is Noya. He collides with Yamaguchi who stumbles at the impact, but is for the most part, still stock still even as the ground pitches again and Kenma hears a creak.

As he and Kiyoko and Noya try shoving the crow toward the door, their own balance faltering as the rattling around them gets even _worse_ , he sees the floorboards warp by their feet and his hair stands on end as he catches the ticking sound of splintering wood. He digs his feet in and shoves that much harder.

And then Kuroo is beside him, an arm swinging despite his wobbly footing. The black cat's fist connects with Yamaguchi's jaw, knocking him off his feet as the temple shakes violently. Kiyoko squeaks in surprise and both she and Noya topple to the floor as well, but Kuroo doesn't pause. He reaches for Yamaguchi in time for Kageyama to pull beside him and grab the crow's other arm. Noya scrambles up, Yachi pulling Kiyoko back to her feet and Shouyou stuttering beside them as they haul the crow backward out of the temple.

Yamaguchi is still rigid, but he's still in their hands as they careen wildly through the exit and down the steps, Kenma losing his feet as the ground that meets him jars sideways. He tries to catch his fall, but his knees hit still hit the ground, and then Shouyou's strong hand wraps around his wrist and the redhead is yanking him forward again.

They don't stop until they are outside the temple completely, Kuroo and Kageyama setting Yamaguchi down beneath a swaying palm and Kenma glances back at the building. Dust kicks out beneath the roof tiles, the molding between the bricks crumbling across the walls as the world continues to groan.

"Where's Tsukishima?" Kageyama asks and Yamaguchi flinches, but it's Kuroo that answers with a hand raised and pointing down the hill.

"He was down in the market."

"Not anymore." Shouyou says, his wide eyes fixed over the trees just by the gate and Kenma catches a flash of cream feathers. The ibis' pale wings vault him over the gate, his eyes wide and face set with intent as he barrels toward the shuddering temple.

"Oi, Blondy!" Noya yells, but the ibis doesn't even glance their way, his umber eyes fixed on the entrance as he hurtles by them.

"Tsukki! _Dammit_!" Kuroo swears and launches after him, up the steps and into the temple on shaky legs. The golden cat's breath catches in his lungs.

"Kuroo!" His leveler's name flies after him, and Kenma takes one step forward, his golden eyes going wide.

He stumbles as the earth grates against itself, the vibrations coming through his feet even more violent. He hears the creak and groan of wood, knows the support beams inside the temple are being pushed to their limits.

 _Kuroo is in there._

"Tsukki?" Yamaguchi asks softly, almost inaudibly above the rattling din that resounds around and _through_ them, and Kenma turns to look at him, his breath stuttering.

"He thought you were still inside." Kenma says weakly, because Tsukishima isn't the only one in there. Kuroo is his world—his future and life—and right now, he doesn't have a clear view of it.

The crow is instantly back on his feet, heading for the temple with panic.

"Tsukki!"

Kagayama is quick on the draw and snags his arm, Noya not far behind. Shouyou and even Kiyoko grab hold to restrain him and still he pushes toward the moaning building, his voice carrying with heartbreaking terror the blond's name over and over.

Kenma offers up a silent prayer to any celestial power above as the structure distorts, the trusses in the vaulted ceiling stretching, and the wood screeches against itself as it strains to hold out under the force of a furious mother earth. The cobbles, the trees, the gate, everything whimpers in the face of nature's wrath as her anger peaks… and then Kenma's heart stutters as he sees a pair of black ears and pale wings through the dusty entrance of the temple.

It gives one painful spasm as the front eve sags, the awning and rafters slipping as the temple's front bearing wall gives way. And it stops as he sees Kuroo bring an arm up around Tsukishima's head as the building's face collapses, the roof sliding to the ground while the ibis and black cat disappear behind it.

A/N: There was one little hint of foreshadowing in the last chapter for this one... kudos if you caught it!

Also the pranks... some of those aren't just dreamt up. I've tweaked them all to fit the story, but I had five brothers and a sister. I have an ARSENAL of memories that are both hilarious and horrible. *cough* I kid you not, there was a venture with a pipe bomb that did crack one of the windows of the house I grew up in. I couldn't hear for two days.

Anyway... have another cliffhanger. I seem to be good at those. Have a stellar evening guys!


	28. Year Three,80 2-4 Salvation & Intuition

**YEAR THREE.80 2/4 Salvation & Lagging Intuition**

Always in a moment of extreme danger things can be done which had previously been thought impossible. ~Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

The roof tiles shatter and tumble across the cobblestones, the bricks from the wall cascading into jumbled piles **. Kenma Kozume's** breath catches, and when he stumbles with the next rolling jolt of the earth, he doesn't even bother trying to catch himself and drops to his knees.

 _Kuroo's in there. Kuroo was inside when it went down. Kuroo is in that building._

Kenma's mind plays on loop, barely noticing that Yamaguchi has gone quiet as well, or that the shaking dissipates unnervingly quick only a few moments later. When silence finally settles around them and the only thing still moving is the slow residual sway of the trees overhead, Kenma draws his first ragged breath.

Then he blinks as something occurs to him.

 _I'm alive._

The enormity of the thought hits him, and his heart vaults to a pace far too fast to be healthy after it was skipping beats only seconds before.

Yamaguchi stumbles by him, the others having released him with the main threat having past. The crow sways as he makes his way toward the destroyed building with shaking hands and Kenma slowly pushes to his feet. His mind is still reeling, he can tell, but his golden eyes automatically start surveying the half-destroyed building.

"Tsukki." Yamaguchi whispers in horror, his anguish distracting. And then the freckled crow sets on the collapsed wall with a frenzy, tossing pieces away and hauling on a splintered beam that doesn't budge. Kenma raises a hand toward him, but freezes as another brick flies by him.

"Tsukki!"

"He's alive, Yamaguchi." Shouyou says and the crow freezes.

"Of course, he is." He says as if the redhead's remark is the stupidest thing he's heard this year, but his voice shakes horribly.

"He _is_." Shouyou insists. "Right Kenma?"

The redhead turns to him and Kenma finds himself the focus of everyone, even the distressed freckled crow. He takes a deep breath, trying not to fret at the attention.

"Kuroo is still alive." He says, the words making his heart squeeze.

"You don't know that." Yamaguchi says with a choked sob, his face scrunching with a furious scowl.

"I do. And if Kuroo is alive, Tsukki will be, too. Kuroo will die ahead of all of us. And you will all know the moment he does. Start worrying when I keel over, not before." He says evenly. It's _not_ a lie. Kenma is certain that if the larger cat had his way, no one would die without him going first.

"We should probably figure out how to get them out soon, though." Noya says, pointing to the thick curl of smoke that rises from the half-collapsed temple.

 _The candles_ , Kenma realizes and in an instant his anxiety ratchets back up.

 _If the collapse didn't kill Kuroo, fire very well could._

"The doors…" Yachi says shakily and they all turn to look at her. She flinches, her little hands fisting in front of her, but her lip firmis and face turns resolved.

"The shoji doors." She says again, a little more sure. Kageyama jerks.

"They were open. We can get in from around the back side and find them." He says.

Shouyou and Noya are already turning to find a way around the side of the half-collapsed structure before he's even finished speaking and everyone follows suit. A monk materializes and catches Kiyoko's arm, making her flinch violently.

"What are you guys doing? It's dangerous here." Kenma levels him with a solemn gaze.

"My leveler is still inside." He says flatly and the man blanches.

"Inside?" Kenma doesn't answer, already leaving him behind.

The building itself looks as if it's twisted, the walls all pulled out of alignment by the front side's drop. The shoji door is off its track, the frame broken and folded over itself, but they can squeeze inside without issue.

Kenma coughs almost immediately, the dust and smoke invading his lungs. He remembers the last point he saw them, nearly at the front of the building when Kuroo had shielded the blond avian before the building face had crumbled. He can barely recognize the room but he makes for that point based on his memory of what the open space looked like just before. Something snaps beneath his foot; he looks down to find a broken calligraphy brush.

 _Further._

The rafters and gusset joints have dropped low where the walls have buckled leading toward the front of the ruined temple, and he has to duck, but he keeps going, his eyes stinging from the smoke. He can barely make anything out through the dim haze, his visibility rapidly limited to a matter of a couple feet.

"Kuroo!" He croaks scratchily.

He hears a grunt and heads for it. Stumbles over something… and then more objects, and nearly cracks his head on a rafter. He almost runs into a fallen support post, spiral cracks and splinters threading through its large diameter where it has twisted and bent like a noodle beneath the strain of supporting the ceiling as it shifted. He's almost ready to leap the post when he calls out once more and there's an answering cough almost right beside him. He follows the splintered wood another three steps until his eyes make out a wash of light color through the hazy air.

Cream colored feathers. And then, among the pale wings… dust caked dark hair and a pair of ears. Kenma almost wants to weep. They are here, almost where he'd thought, and they are alive.

But in a moment, he sees the problem. They are pinned beneath the support beam.

There is less than a foot of leeway between the beam and the floor, and Kenma just thanks the sky that it had landed on something that didn't allow it to drop all the way. But that not-quite foot… isn't enough; the ibis and black cat can't move an inch.

"Kenma?" He hears Shouyou call somewhere behind him.

"I found them. They're trapped. We need to get the post off them." He says and catches movement from the cream wings. The redhead mumbles something and then Shouyou's right next to him, Kageyama just off his shoulder.

" _Shit_." The expletive escapes the avian heir.

"Not a strong enough sentiment, Kageyama." Noya says darkly from his other side.

"Can we move it?" Kenma shouldn't be surprised that Yamaguchi is standing nervously right behind them, because he was the one attempting to burrow in through the destroyed front—but he was literally paralyzed with terror minutes ago.

"I fucking hope so." Kuroo growls, "It's _legit_ un-fucking-comfortable."

Kenma's chest catches with something akin to uneasy joy just hearing the black cat's voice. Kenma can imagine Kuroo's remark is true; his leveler's arm is still cast across the ibis' wings and back, the beam firmly keeping it there across their shoulders. The blond releases a heavy cough and a groan, but Kenma can tell that he's avoiding movement— especially the one wing caught awkwardly under Kuroo's wrist.

Kei's ensuing wheeze reminds Kenma of his own burning lungs and worsening scratchy impulse to cough in response as well. The smoke is getting thicker and he's sure the building will probably be going up in flames shortly.

"Come on." He murmurs and they line up along the support, but the golden cat isn't sure if they'll be able to move it.

The pillar is round with no convenient grasping point, and its solid wood so it is _heavy_. The golden cat knows he isn't very strong and Shouyou might be wicked quick, but he isn't much for brute power, either. Noya's isn't a whole lot stronger than the redhead and Yamaguchi and Kageyama are their greatest available contributors. Kenma can't help but mentally grouse that the strongest individual here just happens to be _under_ the post.

His fears are confirmed a moment later when the beam doesn't budge and his gut twists. They don't have time to figure out some clever system to raise it; the building is _on fire_. They try again… and fail again.

Kenma can hear Yamaguchi starting to panic, can feel his own heart starting to tick an unsteady rhythm. Kuroo didn't survive the earthquake and temple collapse just to burn to death.

He didn't. Kenma _won't_ believe that.

He and Kuroo are finally levelers. The glowing thread that stretches between them in the smoke and dust is proof of that. After everything they've been through, they've only been a level pair for little more than a year. Everything is going perfect—even putting up with the stupid fox hadn't been that bad, because Kuroo had made sure to get his apology across _multiple_ times over, both that night and since. He finally never doubts that the black cat is his… and he's not ready to give that up.

They try again, but it's no use. The beam doesn't even jar. He casts about nearly blind, his vision obstructed by the dim hazy air that burns his eyes.

There must be _something_ they can do, something they haven't tried. They could really use Tsukishima's quick comprehension at the moment, but he's as equally in this bind as Kuroo.

What do they do? Kenma has no idea and he can't see anything that would help them.

He turns back to the support, his mind feeling like it's underwater as he finds Kuroo beneath it, struggling to breath under the pinning upright.

He doesn't know what to do. He has no idea where to start. And no matter how unprepared for death he is, no matter how he will adamantly stay here and _fight_ for his and Kuroo's future… he has a little of the black cat in himself as well. He can't see a way out of this where they all survive. The longer the others stayed, the less likely they were to make it out.

 _They should leave,_ he thinks, knowing they would never listen to a demand like that. Chances look slimmer by the moment, but Noya and the younger level pair can still survive.

Movement draws his gaze and he turns to see another set of hands lining up beside him. And then more of them. He catches a flash of temple priest garb before he hears the quiet order.

"Ready, go!"

He barely has a chance to throw his own efforts behind it as the words reach his ears. The addition of four more hands— or is it five? — jars the pillar and there is a hiss from Tsukishima. The golden cat's heart is skipping beats again as they momentarily relax beside him, because even if it wasn't much, the post _moved_.

"Again!"

Kenma's back and shoulders strain under the command, his thoughts blanking with the singular goal of moving the awkward and heavy beam. He throws his shoulder into it, because here— _here_ is a chance for that future he'd been starting to think he'd be forgoing.

And then he catches the best sound he thinks he's ever heard. Kuroo groans and there's a scrabbling shift against the floorboards.

Without thinking, he abandons his place at the post and his hands instantly tangle in the black cat's shirt. With a heave, he hauls his leveler backward, losing his feet in the process and Kuroo grunts heavily in pain at the motion. He doesn't let go of that handful of fabric until he's positive the black cat is free of the post's danger.

He can barely hear anything above the racing pulse in his ears, but he catches the fierce swear from Tsukishima followed quickly by one as equally colorful and filled with alarm from Noya; Kenma knows they've lost the hold and the beam has dropped back into place. He has a moment to regret his impulsive grab at Kuroo, but then—

"They're out, let's go!"

Kenma squints in surprise at Kageyama's words only to see Shouyou pulling on the blond beside him. Apparently, he wasn't the only one who'd ditched the support for the chance to extract their comrades.

A monk reaches under Kuroo's arm and hauls him up, ignoring his sharp hiss of pain, and then they are quickly picking their way back out of the destroyed structure.

He can hear the crackle of fire, the creak of wood, Tsukishima's brilliant curse, Yamaguchi's anxious hovering, Noya's rough smoky cough, Feathers' trip and Shouyou's ensuing encouragement, the heavy breathing of the monks around them, Kuroo's labored intake that betrays his acute discomfort beside him, but more than anything, he can hear his heart thundering in his head under the tumultuous hope in his chest. He collars the emotion, focusing only on moving forward and keeping pace with the monk who tugs Kuroo along at a clip. The smoke gets thicker, the air hot and his eyes sting and lungs burn with every breath, but he follows the patch of gold robe leading them around a pile of crumbled bricks.

And then they are outside, the sunlight a blinding relief, the soft spring breeze a cooling caress against his sweating soot covered skin. They don't stop until they are several meters away from the burning half-collapsed building, but Kenma can't help shaking his head violently in an attempt to relieve the itch from the dust that has invaded his ears.

When he finally straightens, a hand on Kuroo's shirt to reassure himself that the black cat really _did_ make it out with them, he turns to find the others just behind them.

 _All_ of them. They are surrounded by the monks who helped them and people he doesn't know, but he sees everyone.

Noya is bent over in a coughing fit, Shouyou is losing his mind over a cut on Kageyama's leg that he must have gotten stumbling through the temple ruin, Yamaguchi kneels beside Tsukishima who holds his ribs with a pale faced frown, blood still running from a cut on the back of his head and his one wing listless behind him, and Kiyoko is beside them with a wide anxious gaze. He blinks as Yachi materializes in front of him with teary eyes.

"Are you alright?" She asks quickly and Kenma nods and finally looks toward his leveler as she moves on to him.

He breathes roughly, his face twisted in pain, and blood runs down over one ear from his hair and there are several scrapes and cuts along the arm that hangs limply at his side. And as Kenma looks closer, he sees the abnormality in cat's physique. That arm, the one hanging loose, drops a couple inches lower than the other, his shoulder sloping off at a steeper angle than Kuroo's normal slouch, and his back and spine round more on that side compared to the other. Yachi's zeroed in on it as well, and her fingers ghost over an out of place protrusion near his throat.

"Your collarbone is broken." She whispers.

"Don't think that's all." He mutters with a grimace. "The post hit me from behind."

Yachi's eyes widen and she quickly bounces around him. She frowns and Kenma helps her carefully pull Kuroo's shirt off so she can see the muscles better, and the golden cat can't stand how there's been hardly _any_ movement from that limp arm. When the bunting pulls in a breath, he's quickly following her gaze.

"You're right." She says and points to Kuroo's rounded shoulder with a trembling lip.

This is the arm he'd thrown over Tsukishima as the front had collapsed, he remembers, and the support hit him from behind. His shoulder blade is broken… probably in several places, but he likely spared the ibis a direct blow to the head.

"You," Tsukishima grits out with a pained breath, "How, did you know? You can't even see properly. How did you know we weren't going to make that?" He asks and Kuroo fixes him with an annoyed frown. He gingerly raises the hand on his _not_ broken side and points to his ears.

"I heard the bricks falling." He grumbles with a wince. A monk steps over, eager to help and Noya glances at the golden clad guys around them between coughs.

"How—" he huffs, "did you guys _do_ that? You basically— lifted the roof with it."

Kenma frowns, because he'd never even considered that. The support had kept the roof up; just because it had collapsed didn't mean it didn't still have all that weight on top of it. They'd have never had a chance without the monks.

"They're Ussuri." Kuroo murmurs and Kiyoko looks at him with surprise.

"Bears." She says with awe and a monk smiles quietly at them, his long canines peeking out in the process.

"Wow, really? No wonder they were so strong. You guys are awesome!" Shouyou says with a grin, earning a chuckle from the one tending to the cut on his leveler's calf.

"Thank you for coming to get us…" Yamaguchi says with a deep bow, "we have no way to really thank you." The monk that carefully maneuvers Tsukishima's wing, the ibis biting back a curse, glances up.

"We apologize that we had to. We didn't think anyone was still inside." He murmurs.

"Well, there wasn't until this idiot decided to lose his mind." Kuroo weakly grouses with a wince as another monk inspects his injuries.

"Shut up, you lousy cat. I thought you were all still there."

"And I'm now useless and you've got broken ribs for your inobservance." Kuro grumbles.

"Probably a cracked wing, too. We can brace it to ensure that it heals correctly." One of the bears says to the ibis.

"You hear that, oh fearless leader? I'm relegated to the shrimp's level of mobility and it hurts to _breathe_ , you miserable mangy furball. You aren't allowed to make travel plans anymore." Tsukishima growls. Kuroo rolls his eyes.

"Wouldn't have mattered if we were here or home. That was no small tremor; we'd have felt it in either place."

And there's a few drawn-out seconds where everyone processes the enormity of that statement. The realization dawns and everyone's faces crease with worry and shock.

"Asahi!" Noya yelps, his wings already lifting him into the air, the small crow still coughing intermittently from the smoke.

"Noya!" Shouyou yells after him, but the crow doesn't even glance back at him. The redhead looks at Feathers with panic and then at Kuroo.

"Send Kageyama back, too." He says with a determined set to his jaw.

"Hinata—"

"Go, Kageyama! What if they need help? We will be fine. We'll be there tomorrow." Shouyou cuts his leveler off.

"Maybe _you_ will, Shrimp." Tsukishima mutters and the redhead shoots a flat look at him.

"Your wing and ribs don't affect your _legs_ , moron." He says before looking back at Kageyama beseechingly.

"I can't, but you can. Please go." A murderous scowl creases Feathers' face, but he takes a deep breath and nods once despite his glare.

"Hitoka?" Kiyoko asks and the bunting nods with a firm frown.

"I'll go, too." She says, quickly getting to her feet.

No one asks Yamaguchi and the crow doesn't speak as the other two leap into the sky, buzzing after the already diminishing shape of Noya.

"You guys have relatives the next town over?" The monk working on Kuroo asks quietly. Kenma looks at him, his misgiving deepening.

This earthquake… there hasn't been one this powerful in centuries and they will have felt it, too.

They are a _solid_ day's walk inland from Sheru Bay, over ten leagues out. It's a distance that the avians might cover in an hour if they have a tailwind and they are really pushing their wings. It will leave them exhausted by the time they get there, but Kenma doubts they will do anything less. They won't know if everyone escaped the earthquake until they return, have no way of knowing if someone didn't make it out of a building in time or if someone sustained injury.

He's grateful that the bears and Kiyoko are here so they can trust Kuroo and Tsukishima to their care. This way, Yachi can fly for the others in case her skills are needed.

But the danger for them isn't like the danger for this small village. Kenma's thoughts drift in particular to Suga who only recently stopped glowing after the mess at the snake nest, Natsu who is grounded, and the cats who have no wings to directly remove them from harm's way like the avians.

He hopes everyone is okay, because the earthquake isn't the only threat.

"On the coast." He clarifies softly and the bear's brown eyes crease with horror and understanding.

Even people who've never lived along the sandy shore know what often follows an earthquake.

A/N: So... here's another first for me. Just like I'd never attempted a full combat scene, I've never tackled a natural disaster before either XD Also one of the few chaps with the POV being the same as the last. And be excited! Everyone is still alive at the moment! And Bears! And Kageyama can't catch a break. He's the one that can't stand being separated from his leveler probably the most and he keeps ending up the one that is.

Ahaha... so next chap isn't completely finished yet? I am really trying to power through it, and am still intending to post tomorrow, but I apologize if I don't make it. I will also be traveling on friday and saturday (1/27-28) and will have limited connection to the rest of the world; I will try to post at least one of those days if not both, but just a heads up. Nyx WILL have that chapter ready by tomorrow... probably. Have an extraordinary evening guys!


	29. Year Three,80 3-4 Solicitude Dire Break

**YEAR THREE.80 3/4 Solicitude & Dire Break**

Your absence has not taught me to be alone, it has merely shown me that when we are together, we cast a single shadow on the wall. ~Doug Fetherling

 **Yuu Nishinoya's** wings burn, but he barely notices. Instead, he pushes them a little harder.

The skin on his face is going numb from windburn with the blistering pace he'd set, and the muscles in his back have been threatening to cramp every few strokes, but he ignores them. He can't hear anything over the roar of wind in his ears, and he can feel the line of sweat sliding between his shoulders.

He couldn't care less, because none of it matters.

The others were all in Sheru Bay today. Tanaka and Natsu, Suga and Daichi, Bokuto and Akaashi, the other two cats. He's seen so much destruction on the way home from the earthquake that he dreads what he will find.

 _Asahi_. As the small crow crests the last ridge before Sheru Bay, his soul fractures and the air leaves his lungs.

He recognizes nothing.

Debris fills the water in the small inlet, it's usually pristinely crystal clarity muddied and murky with floating bits of splintered wood and netting and broken furniture. The wharf and all the boats normally tied there are missing. He can't find where Ukai's shop is supposed to be or Sugawara's relatives'. He can barely tell where the main road ran through town.

Noya's heart plummets, because there _is_ no Sheru Bay.

The roof of the local butcher shop is caught between two uprooted trees, another house crushed up against the hillside, cages from the aviary mangled between bits and pieces of buildings scattered about like leaves in fall. A fishing boats lies on its side near where the path that leads to the beach house should be. Trees are uprooted, the earth weathered and exposed, and seawater gathers in low areas. A wash of jumbled slats and shredded boards runs along the hill that backs the land side of Sheru Bay, a perfect line showing how high the wave reached. The twisted wood guts of buildings is interspersed with torn netting, broken roof tiles, and personal belongings like whispers of the lives that have been overturned.

He can see several avians flying around a patch of earth stripped bare like hornets buzzing around the place their nest used to be. He desperately hopes the rest of the beach crew is among them. He desperately wants one of them to be Asahi.

His shoulder spasms and his wings falter; he mentally snaps at them in annoyance. This is no time for fatigue. He needs to find the others.

Asahi and Tanaka and Daichi were supposed to be helping renovate Sheru Bay's single inn near the path that led up into the hills behind the town; the building isn't where he last saw it. He searches and searches, but there's nothing.

A familiar shape flashes across the sky and for a moment, Noya is at a loss beneath the sight of something— someone— familiar. And then he's scrambling.

"Daichi!" He screeches and the crow's wings jar mid flap. He turns toward him, his eyes wide.

"Noya!" The small crow nearly collides with him as he crosses the distance to him.

"Where is everyone? Tanaka? Asahi?" Their former sentry leader's brow creases.

"Come on." He says and turns over a wing. Noya's chest constricts.

 _Why hadn't he answered?_

The command he'd given instead was more cryptic than helpful, and as the short crow speeds after him, he can feel how off balance the destruction around him is making him. It's surreal, he thinks, that the town they've called home for nearly four years… is gone.

Daichi leads him at a breakneck pace up one of the creek valleys that opened up onto Sheru Bay, the entire way there boasting more debris, and he follows the former sentry leader around a large stone face. And the moment they're clear of it, he almost stops in surprise.

There is the inn they were supposed to have been renovating, half crushed up against the ravine's rocky outcroppings and its lower level mostly gutted. Noya has to distractedly marvel at how far it's traveled from its foundation. On the roof, a pair of figures is working to dislodge the tiles and get at the inside and he almost grins in relief at seeing two more familiar shapes.

Tanaka and Bokuto both straighten at their approach, the streaked owl's eyes lighting on him with surprise.

"Noya!" Tanaka greets grimly as he and Daichi drop onto the roof.

"This is nuts." He says in return. "Where is Natsu? Asahi? Suga?" The bald crow frowns, his gaze falling to the roof searchingly, but it's Daichi that answers first.

"Suga is fine and so are his relatives." He murmurs before looking back toward Bokuto and Tanaka.

"We found the cats." He says, his voice a little tight and Noya knows his next words aren't going to be something they want to hear.

"Are they—"

"They're alive. For now," Daichi cuts the owl off, "We found Lev clinging to a tree with one hand and Yaku caught up in his other, but…" The large crow looks like he wants to be sick. "They're not in good shape. Between Suga, Akaashi, and I, we were able to bring them to Takeda's since his place was high enough to escape the water, but they're… the small cat's been unconscious since we found them and Lev flat out refused to let go of him even as he was trailing intestines.

"They were apparently in the hallway of the house when it hit. The big picture window… Lev's got a hell of a gaping cut across his belly and Suga was going to attempt to put everything back inside, but that moron won't release Yaku for anything. Suga and Akaashi are going to have a task to put him back together."

"Pinfeathers, you gotta be kidding." Bokuto murmurs with shock and Noya can't help how his jaw drops.

"Lev is that bad?"

"Yeah… but Yaku might be the bigger concern. He was breathing, but totally unresponsive. It looked like he might have had a broken arm, but I didn't see any other obvious injury." Noya blinks before cutting back to Tanaka, his mental headcount still short.

"Where is Asahi?" He asks again. The bald crow frowns, his face pale.

"We aren't sure. We think he's inside with Natsu, but the steps to the second floor were on the back side which is conveniently just splinters now. We um… I'm alive so we know Natsu's alive, but we haven't heard anything from inside at all and it's been like an hour since anyone has seen them." His gaze drops, his face creasing in troubled thought.

"It depends on whether they were on the second floor when it hit, I guess. If they were on the bottom, they might have been drug back out to sea when it receded, in which case… we're wasting our time here and they'll probably drown. Or at least Natsu will." Daichi shakes his head.

"There are plenty of people flying right now on the lookout for missing people in the bay. If either of them are there, they'll be seen. This was where we were working when the quake started; this is where we should look now." Tanaka looks up at him with a pained expression.

"I should have been there with her."

Noya hates how there is no _real_ certainty in what he's hearing, and his gut tightens with unease at the plethora of _horrible_ possibilities that crowd his mind. But they can't let their worry distract them and he latches onto the bald crow's shirt.

"How do we get in?" He asks forcefully and the crow swallows.

"I'd say the windows, but they're all shattered and not very large; we'll be feathered ribbons if we try."

"Then we go through the roof or a wall." Bokuto says confidently.

The roof seems a more viable option given that there is a place to stand on and use as leverage. He and Tanaka immediately start pulling up more roof tiles, stripping it down to its wood base. And in a matter of minutes, the streaked owl is returning with an axe from where in all the chaos around them, Noya hasn't got a clue. But he's grateful for it—really grateful. There was probably no way they were going to get in without it.

It's slow work; they only have the one and it can only cleave so much wood in one swing. They trade off every five hits, but Noya can barely lift the heavy blade let alone swing it. Fatigue from that bolt across the sky to get here is catching up and his body is dismissing his commands no matter how he swears at it. When they wordlessly bypass him on the axe's next trip around the circle, he feels pathetically useless. Relegated to waiting, he paces in a circle around the slowly growing hole in the ceiling, his nerves snapping with tension.

 _What if Asahi isn't here? Nobody has seen him for probably the last hour. What if he was dead?_

Noya's mind keeps slipping numbly toward that thought.

The short crow was constantly hanging out with Tanaka or Kageyama and Shouyou, but… it was always Asahi that he curled up to every night. It had been ever since they'd come to Sheru Bay. Last night was the first in a _very_ long time that he hadn't fallen asleep to the large crow's steady, even heartbeat.

Asahi was quiet and mellow and often meek, but his presence was always there— if not directly, then as a wallflower at least. The large crow has always been there—ever since the Grand King had selected them for Kageyama's unit.

It was ironic— and Noya always jokingly blamed it on his larger frame, but Asahi was the one who'd always been prone to midair collisions in Volley. Noya'd sustained a sprained wing once after running into him, Tanaka had weathered broken ribs, they'd all earned the occasional bruise from an elbow in the back or something, and even Kageyama had gotten a concussion when they'd cracked heads once.

And that didn't include all the times someone got nailed in the face by one of his serves or spikes. Noya has had more than one bloody nose on account of those. Asahi somehow never failed to be depressed enough over even the least of all those injuries that _Noya_ would be apologizing for bleeding and making him so miserable.

And yet, the diminutive large crow could be every bit as imposing as Daichi— maybe more— if someone took it upon themselves to threaten someone he cared about. Noya had rarely seen it in action… actually, he'd never seen it before they came to Sheru Bay. He imagines it was probably because they were _always_ together as a unit, so one: people didn't usually mess with them because they were, obviously, a _sentry unit_ ; and two: if someone did, Tanaka or Hinata or Kageyama were usually always quicker to get into a brawl which normally meant Asahi rarely ever had to get involved at all.

But since they've been here, the group splits frequently— and they don't really look much like sentries anymore. They don't wear the typical sentry uniform, everyone's hair is longer than sentry regulation—except Tanaka who evidently has a serious aversion to it, and even their posture has slipped away from that of their rigid militaristic upbringing. It makes them appear far more approachable to civilians… and much easier targets, apparently.

He'd gone into Sheru Bay for supplies with the girls and Asahi one day not long after Bokuto'd speared himself with that metal rod. They'd stopped in at the local apothecary stall Miss Haruka ran so Yachi could talk to the elderly woman. She had a _vault_ of medicinal knowledge that she was happy to impart to the younger generation, and the little bunting had been knee deep in picking the old woman's brain for tips on treating infections when a man he'd never seen in Sheru Bay had walked up to her stall.

"I need apple vinegar and calendula." He'd said gruffly, startling Yachi and interrupting the old woman.

Noya had instinctively cast about for Asahi who was tagging along after Kiyoko to help bring back supplies. He'd been two or three stalls down, patiently waiting while the pretty female crow had measured out rice into a bag since they'd gone through their last month's supply in two weeks.

 _Close enough if we need him._

Which they apparently had. The old woman had wordlessly gathered the foreigner's items, and bagged them for him. As he fished out the coins to pay, his gaze had landed on the nervous little bunting, his eyes traveling once up and down her form in a way that had made Noya _burn_ to dropkick him.

"You. You can come fix the poultice for my friend." He'd said and she'd jumped.

"Oh, I'm um—"

"She doesn't work here." Noya had cut in, stepping in front of the instantly quivering little blond, his back rigid and eyes snapping with a hard focus.

"Then she has no reason to stay. Skies know the hag probably won't even make it there."

"Our wonderful Miss Haruka is _quite_ spry yet, and would only fail to make the trip if she happened to meet a suspicious misfortune in questionable company. Luckily for you, she is well versed in remedies and can write it down for you so _you_ can do it. Yachi has other things to attend to." Noya had said firmly.

"She your squeeze, runt?"

"Whether she is or isn't doesn't matter." He'd said with brittle patience quickly wearing right through. The man had scoffed and stepped closer.

"If she ain't yours, then don't speak for her. Songbirds are as common as you are, so find another." He'd growled and reached past him toward Yachi.

All it took for Noya to react was catching the petite blond's violent flinch from his periphery. His eyes had narrowed, his hands closing around the grasping arm and his body had gathered before snapping a foot forward. As his heel connected with ribs, forcing the breath from the man's lungs in a grunt, he released the arm and let him tumble backward.

"You will not touch her." He'd said, his pulse picking up.

After a moment's surprise, the man had climbed back to his feet with an ugly leer at him, his head dipping and shoulders hunching in an offensive stance.

"Big talk coming from such a little punk."

The small crow probably could've bested him with ease, but he hadn't wanted to make a scene if he could help it. It apparently hadn't gone over well when Kageyama had grounded a gull for several months and he'd hoped to avoid another mess like that. Still, he'd been wary; he'd have lost the element of surprise after his first attack and he knew nothing about the foreigner. The man had been larger than Noya and if the brute managed to land a hit, he'd probably have felt it. Fortunately, he hadn't needed to worry.

"Good Morning. Is there a problem."

Asahi's shape had loomed up behind the man, his wings pulled up behind him and splayed with mild threat, and his face set into a ferric flat stare. The man had spun at the glacial inquiry, come face to face with a long-haired crow who was every bit as large as he was and more. Noya had smirked, remembering the waters he'd tested at one point.

"Now you've done it. Yachi's not mine, but she _is_ already taken." He'd said, knowing the man would assume Asahi was her beau, and not the beautiful female crow right behind him. The large man had glanced at him at his words, but his expression never wavered, giving nothing away.

"She's yours?" The man had asked, his composure faltering.

"She's all of ours." Kiyoko had said coldly, pushing by him to circle the blond in a comforting embrace while Asahi took one step forward.

"Is there a problem?" He'd repeated.

The man had glanced between them, a shaky bunting, an elderly woman with lips pressed into a thin line, and three crows all watching him with blatant hostility.

"No."

Asahi had stared him down until he'd disappeared from Sheru Bay entirely before he'd released a huge breath he'd been holding far too long. He'd found Noya with wide eyes.

"That was terrifying." He'd said and Noya had laughed and launched himself at the large crow.

"What are you talking about? You were awesome! You went all 'Good morning, is there a problem' and he just caved and left with his tail between his legs! You were all formidable and serious and _scary_!"

The crow hadn't seemed too thrilled with any of those descriptions, but he'd smiled all the same. That quiet smile that was half-sheepish, half-gratified at Noya's reaction. That smile that could stick Noya's feet to the floor.

He can't imagine what it will be like to wake every morning and _not_ see Asahi's lopsided sleep fogged smile slowly light his groggy face.

Noya's mouth twitches at the memory before the thwack of the axe once more interrupts his train of thought. There's a small sound that escapes the hole beside them and Tanaka is kneeling beside it in a heartbeat, the rest of them crowding around him.

"Natsu?" He calls.

"Mwen la, Baldy." The small voice echoes back from the dark within and Tanaka glances up at them, a relieved grin flashing briefly across his face before he's bending back to the opening.

"Natsu! Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"I okay." Noya shoves past Daichi, his shoulder colliding with Tanaka's.

"Hey, Munchkin. Is Asahi there with you?" He says urgently.

"Yes. Li pa nan deplase." That was an affirmative, but he has no idea what she said after. He looks at Tanaka who stares back at him helplessly.

"Natsu." Daichi says, dropping beside them as well. "Natsu, can you speak crow?"

"Ey… Sahi no move? Hurt. I go back."

"Wait! Natsu, wait." Noya say frantically. "Natsu is he breathing?"

"Wi, men li pa la pale. Um… not talking. I go Sahi." Noya can hardly make sense of her broken babble and when he calls her name again, there's no response.

"Asahi!" He calls and when there's no sound from inside his hands grasp the splintered wood at the edge of the hole. Planting his feet, he strains against it with all his might, slivers digging into his fingers. He feels the wood bending, but it doesn't break.

"Asahi!" He yells again, and then someone's grabbing him. His arms somehow end up pinned to his sides, his wings uncomfortably jostled to the side.

"Calm down Noya! She said he was inside. Give us five minutes to make the hole bigger and we'll all be able to get in and see them." Tanaka says over his shoulder.

The crow slowly lets him go, as if he were waiting for Noya to go berserk. The short crow simply glares at the hole where Daichi and Bokuto have resumed hacking at it.

And the bald crow's right; five minutes later, he's squeezing through an uncomfortable fit, his arms scraping and shirt catching on the jagged wood. He has to straighten his wings out until they are nearly flat against his body, but he wedges his way through it and into the dark interior. He loses his hold on the rafter he uses to pull himself through the hole once his full weight comes through and he tumbles the ten feet to the floor in a heap, his shoulder smacking an overturned piece of furniture. He glances around him in the dim light that comes from the hole in the ceiling and the shattered window on the wall, his eyes slowly adjusting.

"Natsu?" He calls, climbing to his feet. "Natsu, I'm inside. Where are you?"

He's in a guest room, this much he can tell. He heads for the door, his face poking out into a hallway that is darker than the room he was just in, the only light coming in through cracks by his feet. The wood is half splintered along the walls, the floor warped and uneven. The narrow hallway ends in a jumbled mass of wood and beams on one end, and since the other ends in a wall, he surmises that the stairs must have been that way.

"Natsu? Asahi?" He calls.

And then there's the patter of small feet, the footsteps too staccato to be anything but a child's. The girl's face pokes out from a room on the other side of the hall, close to where the tangled wood sits like snapped matchsticks tossed into a pile.

"Sahi here." She says, taking his hand and pulling him after her.

The doorway is warped, the entire wall bowed, but he squeezes through after her. The first thing he sees are three small candles that illuminate the room in a dim glow… and his first thought is that they shouldn't be lit like this because he just came from another building that had gone up in smoke because of them. But without them, he'll be completely blind. They throw enough light for him to realize that it's not really a room at all anymore and he remembers that this was the side of the inn that had been compressed into the rock face.

"Noya?"

Yuu jerks at the soft sound of his name uttered with disbelief, and squints into the tight corner, his eyes adjusting to the low light. There's a figure there, large and broad shouldered, long hair falling across his face. He takes a step forward, barely daring to hope.

"Asahi?" He asks shakily.

"Pinfeathers, am I happy to see you."

Noya's muscles break their seize and he stumbles over the crumpled bed frame toward the crow where he stands in the corner.

"Asahi!" He says, throwing his arms around the larger crow, his sheer elation at finding him alive making his whole being hum.

But Asahi goes rigid, a heavy grunt that is closer to a whine escaping him, and his hands grab Noya's shoulders to still him. The short crow looks up at dark eyes creased sharply with pain in the candlelight.

"S— sorry. Maybe a little gentler?" He asks and Noya blinks at him in confusion. Asahi grimaces tightly once more and then looks up over his shoulder.

"A couple feathers got caught and the walls—I'm kind of stuck." He supplies and when he follows the large crow's gaze, Noya sees it in the dim light. His eyes bug and his mouth drops, his pervasive, all-consuming fear returning tenfold. The small crow goes white, at a complete loss.

 _This is bad. Really bad._

 _We need Yachi,_ he thinks desperately, because one of Asahi's wings is crushed between two collapsed walls.

A/N: So... yeah, Asahi and the cats, too. And their home. Nyx is a monster. But... my little bunting is on the way, so maybe not all is lost?

Next POV is someone who hasn't had one in either Pair or Horizon yet... I'll give a hint. This one isn't one of my go-to characters and when I initially penciled them into the role, I started piecing it together and it had quickly grown so that no one else would fit. I actually really like the next one XD

Heh, have a spectacular evening you guys!


	30. Year Three,80 4-4 Anamnesis Provocation

**YEAR THREE.80 4/4 Anamnesis & Provocation**

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder

 **Keishin Ukai** isn't sure how he ended up staying with the group of eccentric beach dwellers, but he won't complain. It's been a mind-bending last twelve hours and he's exhausted, but doubts he could sleep anyway.

The avian heir and the bunting had shown up in Sheru bay not long after the first wave had come and destroyed the vast majority of everything. Keishin had been helping scour the murky bay for missing people when he'd noticed their shapes over the coastal hills.

Tanaka had stopped in to grab a sweet for Natsu just that morning and told him that the short crow and several of the others would be gone to some spring festival a good day's walk inland, so he'd scrunched his face in confusion. But it had quickly dissolved.

 _Of course, they'd be on their way back after something like this._

He'd met them head on, knowing they would be aghast at what had become of Sheru Bay. They'd immediately inquired after Noya and Keishin had frowned, because the small crow was also supposed to have gone to the festival, and he hadn't seen him for two days. After a stuttering and broken explanation that the short avian had bolted and torn back home ahead of them, Keishin had felt something very much like dread settle in him.

The inn had been one of the few buildings that had been left even partially intact and still recognizable as having _been_ a building. It had come to rest upstream in one of the creek ravines; in the pandemonium of the aftermath, he'd completely forgotten that the remaining unit members were supposed to be renovating it.

They'd arrived in time to find Tanaka, Daichi, and Bokuto crowding around a hole in the roof, Noya's frantic voice echoing from within.

"— Asahi's trapped! We need to get him out!"

They'd proceeded to hack their way inside only to find the other crow in shock, his one wing literally destroyed. It still makes his breath catch and his gut twist when he thinks about it now. They'd managed to find another axe to help them get inside, but Keishin had had to stop them from just cutting and pulling one of the walls away to get him out.

It had been over seven centuries since the last earthquake like this, but it was something he would never forget. He'd probably been around their age now, maybe a little younger… but he knows that they will feel loss as keenly as he had if they aren't careful. But that hadn't meant his interference had been welcome. Noya had nearly gone ballistic when he'd stopped them from lifting the wall off Asahi's pinned wing.

"What are you doing? We need to get it off him!" He'd screeched and Keishin had reacted under the insistent press of those memories by grabbing the small crow's shirt and jerking him up off his feet.

"And he'll die!" He'd snapped.

He'd lost a sister this way.

In that last earthquake… she'd been trapped under rubble for three hours, one leg crushed beneath a beam and bricks. They'd freed her.

And she'd died from shock an hour later.

Keishin remembered her shrieks as the pain became agonizing, her glazed eyes and confusion as she'd started shaking all over. After she'd been pulled from the mess, she'd rapidly gone pale, her pulse growing thready, and entirely nonexistent in the injured leg at all. She'd gotten violently sick, and increasingly weak, her mind slipping. She'd finally succumbed to unconsciousness while his family had panicked trying to save her only for her to stop breathing.

She'd been fine while she was trapped— in pain, but coherent and responsive, her mental capacity and pallor holding steady. Only later did they find out that they had incorrectly extracted her, inadvertently paving the way for her to die as her body overwhelmed her in the wake of blood being restored to the massively injured limb. The leg had been left too long without blood flow, the tissues dying, and when it had returned, the crushed dead muscles had poisoned her. She'd have been better off if they'd have amputated the limb at the outset and she might have survived.

Keishin remembers every detail from that horrible memory.

A limb crushed like Asahi's was very dangerous because it could kill even after it had been relieved of the pressure on it. There was a critical time frame where things would start going south as the tissues began dying, and he knew they were getting frighteningly close if not already past it. If Asahi had been there more than an hour, he was potentially at risk. And the wave had destroyed Sheru Bay about an hour before.

"We can't just remove the wall." He'd told the anxious crow. "We have to place a tourniquet."

"T-tourniquet, are you insane?" Noya had spat. "He doesn't need a tourniquet. We aren't hacking his wing off!"

"And if losing the wing is the only way to save his life?" He'd barked at the short crow who'd pulled up short with wide mocha eyes. "We aren't just going to hack it off, either. We can try to save it, but if it's too damaged, it will have to be removed or it will kill him."

The short crow had found Asahi with panic and Keishin had wanted to facepalm because they were _wasting time_. Anytime there was a major injury, things needed to move fast. Time was a critical commodity that would always be in short supply, and ten times out of ten, the quicker treatment was given, the better the prognosis.

"Asahi can't lose his wing!" He'd adamantly insisted and Keishin had wanted to smack the kid.

Honestly, with how badly it was pinned between those two walls, even if he managed to keep the limb, he'd never fly again. The long bones were shattered, they'd never heal properly. Asahi was never going to leave the ground again under his own power. But he'd been saved from acting on the urge to take a swing by the large crow in question.

"It's okay Noya. I honestly thought I—just getting to see you and the others again is a gift. If I have a chance for more than that, then I'm grateful." He'd said with calm sincerity.

"You can't be grounded!"

"I can Noya. If I lose a wing, I'll just be like the cats or Hinata. And that's okay." Asahi had said and looked up at him. "Place the tourniquet."

The libero had stared at the trapped crow with watering eyes for long moments before pulling his shirt and handing it to Ukai to use as a tie. He'd just finished wrapping it twice around the snared limb and had been tying it off when a shout had echoed from the roof.

"Daichi! We have to move! There's another one coming!" Tanaka had called down to them and Keishin had gone cold.

 _Another wave?_

It wasn't unusual for a coastline to be battered by multiple tsunamis after an earthquake like this… but it was the last thing they'd needed. Time had very quickly become a commodity they were fast running out of. If they could see another wave coming, they probably had five minutes before it would hit to get the crow out.

They had pulled the chunk of wall away from the stricken appendage as quickly as they'd been able. Keishin had swiftly snagged an axe and sliced through the last few feathers still wedged between wood panels and Asahi had outright collapsed with a heavy exhale, his eyes rolling back as the pain instantly vaulted.

Within moments, both Kageyama and Daichi looked green at the sight of the disfigured wing, and Noya had almost lost his mind. Keishin had barked sharply at them; they hadn't had _time_ for that. Kageyama was the first to react and had focused on anything but the downed crow as he'd taken up across from Keishin and pulled an arm over his shoulder. They'd navigated the unconscious crow out of the twisted maze of what was left of the inn and had haphazardly negotiated him out onto the roof, the small crow panicking anytime the injured wing was jostled. Getting him up into the bright sunlight where Bokuto, Tanaka, Natsu, and Yachi waited allowed him his first real look at the damage instead of by the weak light of candle flame.

And, oh, was this bad.

The bones weren't straight anymore, the main joint between the two heavy long ones all but obliterated. It bent in the wrong places with every small movement and Keishin was pretty sure the tendon he could see on the underside was supposed to run across the _top_. Blood slowly leaked out through various lacerations all along the limb through the mangled covert feathers, bone and ligaments peeking out here and there. It was unnervingly similar to his sister's injuries that had claimed her life centuries ago.

And to make matters worse, Miss Haruka, their resident medical expert, was missing.

"Gods, this is awful." Bokuto had said in a hushed tone, snapping Keishin out of his daze.

And as the next wave had crashed against the shore, Tanaka had collected Natsu, and they'd lifted Asahi out of harm's way, headed for Takeda's on Daichi's order. And upon reaching the man's home, he'd been greeted with more staggering details about the eccentric beach group.

He frequently saw Bokuto and Akaashi after a shift at the docks, Suga and Daichi stopped in periodically every few days, the cats all made an appearance roughly once a week, the girls were regulars any time they made it into town, and the rest of the Karasuno unit— barring Kageyama and Hinata— showed up once in a while, too. And of all those people that he'd seen on a cyclical basis, he'd only known that the two he _didn't_ see every day were a level pair.

As he'd helped set up a makeshift med area in Takeda's house, he'd quickly found that he was surrounded by them.

Upon carefully moving Asahi inside, he'd come face to face with Lev and Yaku glowing brightly enough to light the dim room enough to see by. He'd known the two cats were close, had always been able to see the spark between them, but seeing Lev clutching the unconscious russet feline to himself with a hardline determination that was tempered with gentle adoration amid the light that radiated from their ears while Suga had finished stitching his gut closed was eye-opening.

And that had only been the start.

Over the next few hours, he'd learned that Daichi and Suga were a pair, Bokuto and Akashi as well, Tanaka and little Natsu… and now Noya and Asahi, too. Yachi had surveyed the wing as Asahi had come around with an agonized grimace.

"I… I can't fix this." She'd whispered, horror screwing up her cute little face.

"You have to!" Noya had said frantically.

"I can't! I don't know where to start. We need Miss Haruka." She'd whimpered.

"We don't know where she ended up in this mess, so we'll have to go off my knowledge right now. We need to see if the wing is dead already. Daichi, can we get wet cloth to wrap it in? We will need it when we remove the tie and see if we have to take it off." Keishin had asked and Yachi had turned to him with grateful respect.

"I can get it!" Noya had yelped, on his feet in a flash, but Asahi had captured his wrist in a grip that showed veins down through his forearm with a grim expression.

"Stay Noya." He'd ground out through the excruciating pain and the short crow had frozen. "Just stay."

Furious, terrified, sorrowful tears had welled in Nishinoya's mocha eyes, and he'd dropped next to the long-haired crow.

"Okay. I won't go anywhere without you again."

The small crow had gone silent as they'd removed the tourniquet, hadn't complained even once when Asahi drew him up in a suffocating embrace as the pain multiplied another hundredfold. Keishin had never done anything like this; hadn't had the chance last time because he hadn't known beforehand. He'd hated putting the large crow through this as much as he'd hated watching his sister die.

But as the large crow had passed out under the onslaught once more, he'd glowed.

Apparently, the soft indigo hue that emanated from his wings had been a surprise to the others as much as to Keishin, because everyone had paused with shock. Noya had stared at the unconscious large crow as if he'd never met him before his face had scrunched up.

"It was _you_? This whole time? That stupid cat wasn't just jerking me around."

Keishin could make heads nor tails of the dumbfounded remark but Lev had stirred with a small smirk.

"Mori's pretty good at calling 'em." He'd said quietly, burying his face in the russet cat's hair. Tanaka had looked at him in disbelief.

"How are you even talking? Suga's still stitching up your gaping stomach." The thrush had looked up at him apologetically.

"I gave him white willow and ginkgo… the combination may have had unexpected effects."

"Maybe we should give some to Asahi. He's probably in worse pain than Lev right now." Bokuto had remarked and Akaashi had returned with Takeda as if on cue.

"Already working on it." He'd said.

Noya hadn't heard any of it though. His awed gaze had never left Asahi's slack face. He'd leaned his head against the crow's shoulder, that almost _reverent_ look wavering as the hint of a smile played at the corner of his mouth.

"Do you know what this means, Asahi? It means that it doesn't matter if you lose your wing or not. You'll still get to fly again someday."

That had been hours ago.

Asahi still breathes and he still has his twisted, disfigured wing. Even in the wake of knowing that he could regrow it, Suga had pressed to try and save it anyway. The thrush had said healing damaged tissues or broken bones— no matter how shattered— was still easier for the leveler link than regenerating them altogether.

That didn't mean the road to recovery wouldn't be excruciating. The crow had dropped from the waking world twice more from the pain, even with Akaashi's questionable willow and ginkgo blend. He _had_ gone pale, a sheen of sweat coating his face, and staunching the blood loss had been a challenge, but he'd been able to hold down fluids which was critical.

Keishin thanks every star in the sky above him that a wing had fewer major arteries than other limbs. Unfortunately, there were no fewer nerves or ligaments, though, and as it stood, the crow has had no feeling beyond the pain radiating from the limb.

Noya hasn't left his side for more than a few seconds, which was honestly a relief. Keishin didn't know what to do with that anxious mass of energy and Asahi seemed to handle and contain it with complete ease. He'd even just kind of smiled with a quiet 'I know' when Noya had informed him of his glowing status. The banded blond can totally see why they are levelers.

Voices break his train of thought.

"You won't even know where they are. You leave and it will be just one more thing to worry about." He hears Daichi say and then Kageyama scoffs. Keishin cocks an eyebrow and heads their way.

"That's easy for you to say. Your leveler isn't in the middle of the mountains somewhere."

"They're fine, Feathers." Bokuto says.

"The beanpole has cracked ribs and the blinky cat has a broken shoulder. Your version of _fine_ is pretty warped." Kageyama snaps.

"They aren't alone, though Kageyama, there are six of them." Akaashi tries to reason with him.

"And three of the four that aren't injured aren't accustomed to fighting if they run into trouble. And Hinata might be out as well; he hasn't been sleeping well and his back has been killing him lately."

"Their numbers should deter most would be assailants. Normal people don't attack one on four."

"May I offer my thoughts?" Keishin breaks in and they all turn toward him. Daichi frowns slightly as if he expects to be overridden, but nods just the same.

"You've more than helped us; we owe you that much and more." Keishin dips his head in appreciation and looks at Kageyama who watches him expectantly.

"You should stay." He says, surprising the others, and the avian prince's gaze widens just a touch.

"Hinata—"

"Hear me out." Keishin cuts him off.

"All of your people might be accounted for, but Sheru Bay as a whole hasn't been so lucky. Most people survived, but last count, we had four dead, and thirteen missing, Miss Haruka among them. That number rose by another two after the second wave hit. Every extra set of hands is a blessing and Sheru Bay needs help."

"Maybe you've forgotten, but I'm not _allowed_ in Sheru Bay." Kageyama growls.

"You aren't, but the others are— and at the moment, I doubt it matters as Sheru bay is literally no longer on the map. Suga and Yachi are already trying to help with injuries; Daichi, Tanaka, Bokuto, anyone else you can spare will mean the world to them.

"There's still close to a month before summer really arrives. Interim shelter is the first concern and we are already hashing that out, but the next thing they will need is sustenance. We can procure water just fine, but we've lost a month's worth of food stores. While Takeda has readily extended what he has left for you guys, the rest of Sheru Bay still has to eat, too. At the very least, you should stay and take care and provide for your group so that they can help do the same for Sheru Bay."

"I don't like leaving Hinata out there alone."

"Have a little faith in your leveler, Feathers; I _saw_ you spar under your father, and you are both formidable opponents. And he _isn't_ alone. Besides… if I know Hinata at all, he'd rather you stayed, too." Kageyama's expression is quite black, but Keishin knows he's caving at the mention of Hinata's inclination.

"I will stay until the day after tomorrow. If they haven't shown up by then, I'm going looking." He says in a rigid voice.

"If they aren't back by then, it won't be just you going to find them." Bokuto says firmly.

"Wait… wait a moment." Daichi frowns.

"You _saw_ Kageyama spar back at the rookery? You knew who he was when we came here— knew all of us. Who are you?"

Keishin is surprised it's taken them almost four years to ask that question. To be fair, he's pointedly avoided it up till now, but he's been entrusted with all the beach crew's secrets today so he doubts he has any right to keep his own.

"My grandfather was one of the advisors to the Grand King. I grew up in the rookery, a few centuries older than you guys, but watching you become the first unit all the same."

"Why did you leave?" Daichi asks curiously.

"The wharf shop was left to my mother and I came out here to take it over."

"And why did you never turn us in?" Kageyama asks with a critical gaze.

"I recognized you immediately, and to be honest, I was mystified that you showed up here. But your reasons for leaving were your own. Looking back, I have to say they were probably justified." He says, his gaze drifting back toward the door and the three glowing level pairs behind it— because apparently Natsu was also grounded like her brother, by _pinioning_ no less.

"We are grateful for your silence." Daichi says sincerely and Keishin nods.

They all jar as the earth under their feet trembles with another aftershock— one of several already, and Kageyama and Akaashi step back inside to check on the others. As it quickly subsides, the banded blond breathes a mild sigh of relief now that one minor crisis has at least been postponed. It would be less than ideal to split the beach crew even more when they have three critically injured ones right here.

Asahi might have made it through the first few hours, but that destroyed wing is a prime candidate for necrosis and will need to be watched carefully. Lev's stomach might be stitched up and the cat very lucid, but sepsis could easily infiltrate that injury. Perhaps most concerning of the three is Yaku, who has yet to stir. He's bruised and battered, one arm broken, but he doesn't have much for open wounds, which makes determining what is wrong a hundred times more difficult.

If the small cat doesn't wake by tomorrow, Keishin worries that he maybe never will.

It is getting late the following afternoon and the young avian heir has long grown restless by the time a wagon driven by a couple monks rolls up carrying the half dozen missing beach crew along with a rash of sorely needed supplies.

Keishin smiles slightly at the reunion between Kageyama and Hinata. The wagon hasn't even stopped before the redhead is leaping from the back of it, flying past him, and throwing himself into Kageyama's waiting embrace. The avian prince ditches discretion altogether, and buries his face into his leveler's hair, chaste kisses finding his ear and temple.

"Please don't ask me to leave like that again, idiot." He says gruffly and Hinata nods and presses into him a little more.

Tsukishima climbs out gingerly with the help of one of the monks, a small, dark haired man who's careful not to jar a splinted wing while the freckled crow hovers anxiously. Kiyoko and Kenma help Kuroo down, and Keishin has to give the cat props for muffling his curse. He wonders how often those two would have preferred walking to the discomfort of a wagon that bounces across every stone in the road. Yachi joyfully greets them before sharing a brief hug with Shimizu, but the little bunting trails after the female crow with starry eyes until Shimizu spins and plants a decidedly _not_ so chaste kiss on the blond.

Keishin greets the large silver haired monk, a quiet man by the name of Aone, and explains about their small coastal town. He's surprised to learn that he and the other monk, Moniwa, are from the temple that collapsed on the black cat and the ibis. The bears have brought with them so many things that Keishin wouldn't have even considered.

There isn't just food, there is clothing, and tools, and medical supplies. He's brought all the necessary implements to begin rebuilding, and he's even brought half a dozen ravens. Keishin has to marvel, because it was one of the last things anyone was thinking about, but one of the most critical things they'd need if they wanted to stay in contact with other towns. Sheru Bay's own small aviary was destroyed much to Natsu's extreme distress for the birds they'd lost. Hinata turns toward Daichi with a neutral expression.

"Why are we holed up here? What happened to the beach house?" He asks and Keishin notices the other five pause at the question as well.

"It's gone. There isn't even a foundation left and the beach looks nothing like it used to. The only reason we know where it _used_ to be is because the stream is still there." Tanaka answers for him.

"Eh? It's really… gone?" Yamaguchi asks with wide eyes.

"Yeah. You want a detailed description of its final moments, you can ask Lev. He and Yaku were inside when the first wave hit." Bokuto says and Kuroo's gaze turns sharp.

"They are alright?" He asks, his voice hollow.

"They are still alive, if that is what you are asking…" Tanaka says with a frown, "But they aren't exactly in stellar condition. Yaku hasn't woken up yet and Lev is on a mission to eviscerate himself any time he moves. Akaashi and Suga have been doing everything they can, but if Yaku doesn't come around soon, we may be facing a bad situation."

"Anything else I should be worried about?" Kuroo asks heavily.

"Asahi's grounded now, too." Bokuto offers frankly and all six of them turn horrified eyes to the streaked owl.

"Grounded _?_ " Yamaguchi echoes in a choked voice.

"Yeah… he got caught between a couple walls and one of his wings got _destroyed_. On the bright side, we found out Noya is his leveler, so he won't stay that way." Hinata's jaw drops.

" _Asahi?_ And _Noya?"_

"Yeah." Kageyama murmurs and one of Tsukishima's brows cocks.

"You mean none of you guys had that figured out?" He asks with a condescending smirk, and Akaashi glances over his shoulder from where he's helping Aone unload the wagon, the smaller owl's hand rising.

"I did." Bokuto's head jerks toward his leveler, his golden eyes going wide.

"What? Since when?"

"Since Lev let it slip _years_ ago." Kuroo shakes his head.

"That stupid cat." He grumbles with a sigh. "That brings the total flightless avian count to what? Four? How did that number quadruple since last year?" He murmurs, one hand rising to his head in a beleaguered gesture. "I wish I'd been here. All of us."

"No one could have known this would happen, Kuroo." Kenma says.

"I want to see it." The freckled crow's declaration silences them all and everyone turns toward Yamaguchi. His face is set into a resolved expression, his mouth pursed into a thin line.

"Yamaguchi—"

"We haven't been to Sheru Bay, yet. I want to see it." He repeats firmly, cutting off the ibis.

"Are you sure?" Hinata asks cautiously. The crow frowns and nods.

"It's… there isn't much left of it." Kageyama says uncertainly.

"I don't care." The crow says and Keishin lets out a weighted breath.

"I know a decent vantage point where you can see pretty much the full scope of it. I'll take you there." The redhead turns to his leveler.

"I want to go, too." He says with one of his determined looks and Kageyama's head tilts but he doesn't refuse Hinata's request. The avian prince had been into Sheru Bay twice since returning and Keishin had been right; no one batted an eye at his presence in the wake of this disaster.

"Yamaguchi." Tsukishima watches the crow with a steep focus, a tension around his eyes, but the freckled crow meets his gaze without flinching.

"It's okay, Tsukki. I'm going to go. I'll be back in a bit."

Kageyama gathers up his leveler— they haven't broken physical contact since their reunion and it would be foolish to expect anyone else to take Hinata at the moment, and Keishin takes to the sky with a nod. The young level pair and Yamaguchi follow him, the streaked owl tagging along as well.

Keishin has to marvel at the former sentries' physical condition; Kageyama is barely hindered by Hinata's extra weight and keeps pace easily beside him. Being in such close proximity with the former first unit drives home everything he already knew about them. They are all in peak physical shape, their stamina and strength impressive, and they are all exceptional at logical analysis and processing. He'd seen them spar in training bouts when his grandfather had brought him to the military compound when he was younger and he remembers being quietly awed at their skill even as budding adolescents.

Now, nearly fully grown adults, they've lost a lot of the more childish attributes they'd had back then, their features sharper and movements even _more_ precise and controlled, everything calculated and intentional. He's never seen them in real action, but he knows they've seen actual combat since Tanaka had given him a rough synopsis on their brush with the snake nest after he'd brought Natsu into his shop the week after they'd returned. And he remembers how that gull who'd harassed the small redhead and bunting had looked after Kageyama had been through with him.

They really were a frightening group to take up against… but having gotten to know them, Keishin knows they are so much more than that lionized, untouchable 'first unit'. They were some of the closest-knit people he'd ever met, and infinitely more compassionate than their 'warrior' image and training would have led one to believe. They readily offered most people the benefit of the doubt, were never averse to helping when it was needed, and they were surprisingly vulnerable.

Tanaka was hyper protective of them all, but a complete pushover for the younger redhead sibling. Daichi had gained wings like Kageyama's with his last molt, and Keishin knew he'd been considerably rattled at nearly having lost the thrush. Suga himself had only gotten more serene after his brush with death, and he'd taken up Yachi's decision to learn everything he could from Miss Haruka in order to be able to help people. Noya had been irate that he hadn't been there for the fight and thoroughly given the black cat an earful before Asahi had restrained him from throwing punches. Keishin doubted the large crow could ever hurt _anyone_ with how pacifistic he was in general.

And though he hadn't seen them as much as the others, the level pair beside him had mellowed with their run in with the snakes. Kageyama takes insults with far more grace than he has in the past, and he is never far from Hinata's side, the redhead able to completely ease his black moods in moments. Hinata himself… has dimmed somehow. He was still sunny and happy, would still join in on pranks, and was still perpetually optimistic, but… his eyes look older. It was only after he'd asked the black cat about the kid that Keishin had learned how closely they'd actually tangled with the snakes.

And Keishin had lamented that loss of innocence as much as any of the others, no matter how unavoidable it might have been. It had hit them all, but Noya had been extremely upset over that turn of events and Bokuto had taken it especially hard, doing everything in his power to bring that brilliant spark back to the small spiker.

The person who could mitigate the occasional bouts of melancholy best, however, was Kageyama, the dark-haired setter simply pulling him into an embrace with a quiet look of lament. Keishin could tell the gesture had spoken of experience, had rung with solidarity in the form of both support and inherent understanding, and the banded blond had wondered where along the line the avian heir had had the misfortune of taking a life that he knew _exactly_ the most effective way to comfort the redhead.

As Keishin touches down on the roof of a shed on the hillside that Sheru Bay used to be nestled up against, he can't picture the former first unit like he used to—as nothing more than a cold and calculating team that functioned with perfect efficiency.

They are all _human_ with very human emotions and feelings. They are all as colorfully individual as everyone else and they are just as susceptible to pain. They laugh, they cry, they smile, they argue and play, and they hurt just like all people, and Keishin is gratified to have discovered that.

Yamaguchi stares with wide eyes, and Kageyama lets the redhead down onto his own feet and he steps forward with a slack jaw. Bokuto, who's seen all this already, had been here when it happened just like him, stands oddly silent behind them, and Keishin can't bring himself to break it before they've had a chance to really take it all in.

Most of Sheru Bay has been stripped down to nothing but bare earth, the remnants of destroyed buildings here and there, splintered bits of wood and debris lacing the landscape. Trees that weren't uprooted are dying from the seawater that saturated the soil after the two major waves, one of the boats that was docked at their small port resting aground not far from where Keishin's shop had stood, another blocking the path that would normally skirt along the beach to the location of the beach crew's old home. Almost nothing remains and it is a shock to the avians seeing it for the first time.

"It… really is all gone." Shouyou whispers.

"Yeah. The body count is at twelve so far. We still have seven missing." Keishin supplies with a sigh. And only a few hours back, he'd received word that Miss Haruka had been found. Unfortunately, she hadn't been found alive. It's a hard reality; the woman had always reminded him of his mother.

"When we were little," Yamaguchi says quietly, drawing their attention, "There was this day games thing in the neighboring town like an hour's flight away. Just one of those 'air relays' things they put on for kids. Our parents weren't able to come, so Akiteru took us. Tsukki didn't like me at all, but his mother would scold him any time he'd scoff at me, but I didn't really care. We didn't live by the coast so there weren't many gulls for him to blend in with and he was like that with everyone." A small smile tugs at his mouth before it disappears again.

"We left early in the morning when the sun was just coming up and Tsukki had already won something— I don't even remember what it was, but he was always taller so his wings were naturally larger than most kids in our age group which gave him an edge.

"I was just getting ready for my turn when the shaking started. Akiteru came out of nowhere and snagged both of us and pulled us away from all the buildings and huddled us up under a tree that I remember seeing sway far enough that I was sure it would snap. When it finally stopped and we went back home, there had been a slide and our entire hillside… there was no home to return _to—_ no house, no community, no family. There weren't even landmarks so we couldn't even tell where anything _used_ to be. Everything was gone." He says and Keishin wonders if the others are reeling at the freckled crow's words as much as he is.

"I never thought I'd live through something like that again."

It's surreal, he thinks, that the crow beside him had also lost people in the same big quake that took his sister. They'd been nowhere near each other, didn't know the other in the least, and yet… they share the experience. He imagines that most everyone could still remember where they were and what they were doing when that one had ruptured their lives. And he's positive that centuries from now, they will still all remember _this_ one with just a grim of clarity, too. Hinata is the first to recover.

"You didn't. Not entirely. We're all still alive this time— Tsukishima, too." He says with conviction and a small smile, but Yamaguchi frowns slightly.

"I won't run from this anymore." He murmurs his eyes finding the redhead. "Tsukki almost died because of me. If I hadn't frozen up, he wouldn't have left in the first place."

"Yamaguchi… that's why you guys have the rest of us. When one of us falls short, everyone else will step up. As long as you are with us, we will have your back." Hinata says and Yamaguchi's eyes widen just a bit. His dark orbs slide back to the devastated Sheru Bay.

"Is that so?" He asks rhetorically, a smile just barely tugging at his own mouth. Hinata grins.

"Of course!" He says brightly before turning back to his leveler. "Can we go back? I want to see Noya and Asahi. I never got the chance to give them crap for finding out they were levelers after _we_ did!" Kageyama smirks and offers his back to Hinata who happily clambers on.

They all take to the sky after the young level pair, Keishin feeling both lighter and heavier. He absently hopes this isn't the way it will always be around these guys. He doesn't know how much more heartbreak and worry over them he can stomach. But… just knowing them, living through their hardships with them… he's sure that it's worth it and he knows that he will suffer a thousand more tragedies with them if they will allow it.

Ahead of him, he sees the redhead glance to the side and his face momentarily slacks with surprise. Kageyama can't see his face, but he does turn his head in inquiry of his motion and Hinata jerks slightly. He says something to Kageyama that Keishin can't quite hear, and the setter nods before resuming his course.

Then the grounded avian turns and finds the banded blond crow. With a small smile, he points to the hillside beneath them. As Keishin follows his gaze, he sees another cart loaded with goods, it's driver paused at the junction where the road splits to go down into the ruin of Sheru Bay.

He nods and the redhead grins before turning and hunkering back down across Kageyama's back. Bokuto has caught sight of the figure as well, but Keishin waves him off, letting the owl know he'll take care of it. He banks away from them and plunges down toward the cart and driver.

 _It's a woman_ , he muses with surprise as he gets closer, and she looks up at him with sharp dark eyes as he closes in on her. Keishin almost frowns because she almost looks familiar.

But that thought is immediately sidelined as he takes in her appearance. She's mostly garbed for the early spring weather, but her heavy mantle is left open to the warmer air. Her outfit below is perhaps _not_ the most modest, the thick black bracelet on her arm and the piercings in her ears lending her a more derelict or eccentric appearance. Her blond hair is bleached, he can tell, and it's pulled back on one side by a pretty mitsudomoe pin. Her arms rest on her knees in front of her, her black wings slack behind her, and he assumes she's probably a crow and swallows.

 _Shit. This chick is actually… quite attractive._

He belatedly rues the fact that he volunteered to intercept her.

"Good afternoon!" He calls amiably as his feet touch down. "You, um... seem a little lost. Can I point you in the right direction?" He asks and her head tilts.

"Perhaps. It's taken me longer to get here since none of you country _rubes_ know how to post any signs. I'm looking for Sheru Bay. Which way?" She says with a scowl that tweaks Keishin's memory.

"Eh… it's that way, but there's nothing left." He says, pointing down the road into the town. She frowns with a tightness around her eyes.

"Did you live there?" She asks bluntly and he swallows again.

"I did."

"Then maybe you can tell me where I can find someone. I'm looking for a guy named Ukai. He used to run a shop by the docks." He blinks stupidly before shaking his head.

"Um… yeah, that would be me, actually." He supplies, completely dumbfounded.

 _This is a first. He's definitely never had some cute punk girl ask after him like this before._

Her eyebrows rise.

"You are a lot younger than I imagined. Are you sure you're the Ukai I'm looking for?" She asks skeptically, her chin rising with suspicion. He can't decide if that's an insult or a compliment. Maybe both?

"Ah. Yes?" He says uncertainly.

"Uh huh. I'll kick your ass if you are lying to me." She says bluntly, a sterile expression flattening her mouth, and Keishin almost huffs in surprised amusement.

"I don't doubt that. May I ask who's asking?" He says with a wry smirk.

 _She's totally adorable._

She frowns darkly and cocks a brow at him.

"You don't sound like you're from around here."

"I've only been here the last couple centuries or so. Not long enough to strip away my rookery accent completely yet. Would you have a name to go with that lovely cagey disposition? It might be nice to be able to tell my friends who handed my ass to me." He murmurs, enjoying the way her scowl wrinkles her face and her arms cross in front of her with affront.

"Keep pushing hotshot, and it won't be just your ass." She grumbles with a glare and he laughs.

He feels like he could go on a verbal spar with her for the rest of the day… but he's sure the rest of the beach crew are waiting on him. Besides, if she's determined not to tell him, then he might as well quit while he's behind.

 _Shame. I bet I could wind her up pretty good._

"Heh. Keep your secrets, then. That road will take you into Sheru Bay— or what's left of it, but I should probably get going. If you need to find me, ask for Takeda. Anyone can point you in the right direction." He says with a wave and turns to take off.

"Wait." She says with a scowl and he pauses. "Wait a moment. I'm… I'm looking for—"

She breaks off and they both look up to see an incoming pair of black wings and Ukai recognizes Tanaka.

"Hey, Ukai. Hinata said you'd need help—"

"Ryuu!" The woman screeches and as the crow lands beside him, the former sentry is nearly bowled off his feet with arms full of the blond. The bald crow blinks before his face goes slack.

"Saeko?" He says with a mystified expression and Keishin blinks.

 _They know each other?_

"Freaking pinfeathers! Saeko!" Tanaka blurts and crushes her in a death grip, swinging her around with a grin.

She laughs and hugs him back and Keishin has the irrational urge to scowl. The crow sets her down and holds her at arm's length, his face a mask of joyful incredulity.

"Saeko, what the hell? What are you doing here?" She beams back at him.

"Spring came early this year so migration was early, too. We'd been back like two days when the quake hit. We've put together as much for supplies as we could come up with for you guys."

"Is it just you? You came out here alone?"

"Mm!"

"You idiot, that was dangerous! And what if you were followed?"

"Everyone was busy trying to fix the rookery. No one was going to notice me being gone." She says and Keishin cocks a brow, a tendril of a thought tickling the back of his mind.

"Eh… sorry, Tanaka, but… who is she?" He asks politely. The bald crow straightens and his trademark cocky smile slips into place as he looks down at the blond beside him.

"Ah, sorry! This is Saeko. She's my crazy sister. She's the reason the rest of us sentries are insane." Saeko jolts and punches him in the ribs and Tanaka doubles over with a laugh.

"You brat!" She barks, but Keishin's chest breathes the slightest sigh of relief, the banded blond never even realizing he'd been holding it.

 _Sister._ Somehow, he's unreasonably happy to hear that.

"Heh. I can see the family resemblance. Wait… Saeko. Saeko… as in the drummer chick? Your sister is _her_?" He murmurs to the bald crow and the woman's brown eyes snap back to him.

"You! You don't get to say _anything_. You were _most_ unhelpful." She growls and Keishin snorts.

"I answered every one of your questions. And you were the one threatening _my_ ass." He says with amusement and Tanaka brings a hand to his face in embarrassment.

"Again, Saeko? Why do you always do this? This is why Jiji banned you from family gatherings." He says before reaching for the horse that patiently waits with the cart, a grin still tugging at his mouth.

"You are _so_ dead if you say one more word, Ryuu." She growls and Tanaka laughs again.

"Come on. The others will be happy to see you."

Keishin walks the ten minutes back to Takeda's with them in relative silence, content to listen to the siblings bicker. And the longer he's around the blond woman, the more entertaining she becomes. If she lives in the rookery, perhaps he will have to make more frequent trips to visit his mother.

They round the corner up the way and Tanaka sucks in a breath. Keishin blinks and follows his gaze and then his jaw drops.

"Feathered cat balls on a stick. They're gonna be alright." He murmurs, relief washing through him.

Lev sits in a chair in the evening sunlight, Yaku cradled in his lap… and the small cat's eyes are open and taking everything in. Despite the nagging voice that states that under no circumstances should Lev have ever gotten up with his stomach like it is— something Keishin is also positive he will catch hell for from his leveler when Yaku realizes, the banded blond smiles, his eyes rising briefly to the sky in thanks.

For the first time in the last two days, he feels the mountain of stress fall away from his shoulders. Asahi will live and even fly again with his leveler there for him. Lev and Yaku will also pull through, although Keishin wonders if this instance will make both of their ears completely white or something. Kuroo will heal like new in a few months, the ibis, too. And they are all back together. A shout from Hinata pulls him from his thoughts and he turns only to be met with curious brown eyes framed by blond hair.

"Eh…" He says, taken off guard by Saeko's intent stare.

"What?" He asks. Her head tilts.

"That was a hell of an oath. Especially with little ears around." She says and her gaze pointedly slides toward Natsu who bolts toward them.

Saeko's face morphs into one of surprise as Tanaka swiftly hands her the horse's reins before the child throws herself at the bald crow. He catches her up with a grin.

"How's my little Bel?" He says with a laugh and she rattles off something unintelligible at him punctuated by 'Baldy', and Saeko stares as he captures her hands and suspends her in the air with one of his before dragging fingers across her belly. As she screeches with laughter, Tanaka's feral smirk slips onto his face.

"How many times have I told you? I don't speak your munchkin babble. Now what were you trying to say?" He asks pausing his assault. Natsu gasps and looks at him with her brow scrunching despite her smile.

"Se?" She squeaks and Tanaka raises a brow and resumes his attack and she squeals again.

"Non!" She gasps, "Mwen—" When he pauses again, she's breathing hard but she watches him steadily.

"Mwen— I… I no know word!" She squawks when he makes to tickle her again.

"Ah." He says and catches her up again.

"What do you not know the word for?" He asks and Natsu points at him and then at Saeko. Realization dawns.

"Sister." He says with a grin and she smiles, her face lighting up like Hinata's.

"Se… s-sister."

"Yep, Saeko is my sister." The little girl stares at her for a long moment before turning back to the bald crow.

"You right. Flowers Bad." Tanaka sputters as laughter rolls from his gut, and he's still busting a gut as he sets her down.

"Come on, Munchkin. Saeko's brought us a bunch of stuff, too. We should take care of it." He croaks, taking the reins from Saeko and handing them to Natsu. They lead the horse off, leaving Saeko standing beside him with a very bewildered expression.

"She… kinda looks like Hinata." She says and Keishin grins.

"Your eyes are sharp as they are beautiful." He laughs and she turns on him with her jaw hanging.

"You—"

"That kid is his honest to god blood sister. I don't suppose you missed the little pin in _her_ hair either? The sunflowers?" He says and her mouth closes with a click, her eyes drifting in rapid thought.

"No?" She says cautiously.

"Ask him about that. That kid is… unique, especially with regard to Tanaka. That will be a conversation you probably won't be prepared for. He sure wasn't." Keishin laughs. She frowns before looking around at the others, her gaze wide and curious as she takes in the owls and cats, the two bear monks, before she looks back at him.

"I thought they lived on the beach." She says with narrowed eyes and Keishin cocks a brow at her.

"We _did_ just have an earthquake?" He says and she looks away.

"It's gone, same way as my shop. I'm sure it will be rebuilt soon enough; that's the way it goes. Another few years and the town will have a new face, another century people will have halfway forgotten the events of the last few days. That's… just the flow of life, no matter who it leaves behind." He says, thoughts of his sister briefly skimming through his head.

Somehow, he can remember her now with far less pain than he had before this quake. Perhaps having been able to save Asahi from the same fate— and by extension, Noya, allows him wistful joy at her memory.

"Who did you leave behind?"

He jars and looks down at Saeko with her sharp brown eyes, unprepared for the question. For a long moment, he mentally stumbles, before smiling slightly.

"My sister. The last big one like this, I lost my sister." He murmurs, looking back at Lev and Yaku, Hinata chattering happily to them before Kagaeyama calls him over toward Tanaka and the wagon.

"I'm sorry." She says and he shrugs mildly before turning a devious smirk back on her.

"So I get the feeling there is a particular incident that got you banned from family functions. I feel like it's a safe bet to assume sake was involved."

"Why, you—"

"Little ears, remember… although I didn't peg you as one who'd care about something like that." He says with a grin. Her jaw works and her wings ruffle like she wants to zing him with a good insult, but can't decide which to hurl and Keishin full on laughs.

 _He was right. Winding her up is a blast._

Across the yard in a chair, a lanky gray cat tightens his grasp just a little more around his leveler, ignoring the pain radiating from his gut.

"Hey Mori." He murmurs, his gaze tracking the banded blond and new female, and the small cat in his arms barely moves at the sound of his name.

"Mm?"

The grey cat grins as the crow laughs while the newcomer nearly spits her teeth at him in frustration.

"I think I can see what you mean when you say there's this kind of 'spark'." He says and the russet ears on his chest shift just enough so he can see what the grey cat is talking about.

"Ah…yep, that would be it." He says and the lanky cat smiles happily.

A/N: And that's it for year three. My POV for this one was decided after Ukai's seiyuu passed away as kind of a tribute, but the more I wrote him in, the more no one else seemed even remotely appropriate. Also, welcome to another one of my atypical ships. I stumbled across a couple brilliant pieces while researching Saeko, and have been unable to ship either of them with anyone else since- I invite you to join the madness:

p/92mY9F  
post/140634571603

I think there might be a couple others, but I'm half asleep. I was shite for formatting and cleanup, so I apologize for any errors. Heh, Nyx is dead. Im getting pulled in for OT to help other depts and it's tax season so im already busy as hell. Two 10s and a 12 already, another 12 tomorrow, supposed to play in a Thursday night vb league, and they want me to come in for a few hrs before my flight on friday, and 2 days of travel after that. I feel like I should tie a surrender flag to a stick and wave it at life as it sails by.

My sincerest apologies guys, but I might take a couple days' sabbatical for my own sanity. Pulling crazy sleep dep schedules is fun and all on weekends when I have no real obligations, but when I have to be up at 530 tomorrow for another long day and have to NOT miss a flight the next... yeah, adulting sucks. I will try to post friday or saturday, but I am hoping to be back on schedule for sure by sunday. Again, I'm sorry for the short notice. Love y'all, have a fantastical evening!


	31. Year Four,50 1-2 Dyspathy

**YEAR FOUR.50 1/2 Dyspathy**

The wings of transformation are born of patience and struggle. ~Janet Dickens

~Seven Months Later, Early Autumn~

 **Keiji Akaashi** moves into position for the set off Yaku's receive in the waning fall light.

It has been over eight months since the earthquake.

Sheru Bay is well on its way to being rebuilt, the beach crew having had a hand in supplying much of the muscle to do it. The docks have been restored and ships now come in again, several of the mainstay shops have been replaced, and almost a third of the homes stand once more. Ukai has his shop back as do Sugawara's relatives. A small section near the center of the docks where the main road meets the ocean had been set aside as a memorial for those lost, a Volley net erected there that sees daily use by the inhabitants of the small coastal town.

Saeko Tanaka had stayed close to a month, the blond woman a hurricane of a personality on her own let alone surrounded by the rest of them, and everything had seemed… quieter since she'd left. Akaashi hadn't minded the constant bickering with her brother and the other former sentries, had found it quite endearing, actually. It was fascinating to see a facet of the world the Karasuno group had come from, and it was somehow gratifying to instantly have been inducted into her line of fire—Akaashi knew that Bokuto'd been secretly stoked to have caught flak from her as much as any of the others for scarfing down a meal she'd made far too quickly to have actually tasted it.

They were all so used to the reserved Shimizu and flighty Yachi that having another female as loud and colorful as Noya and Tanaka was initially intimidating for everyone except the Karasuno unit. The female crow's ease in readily assuming an older sister role with them all—even Kuroo, which the black cat hadn't quite known _how_ to handle—and the confidence with which she'd slipped into it had been slightly unsettling. She'd taken the reality of the unusual number of level pairs among them in stride, too, it seemed; she'd been appropriately flabbergasted for several moments when Tanaka had awkwardly explained his own situation, but she'd been largely unfazed by most of it.

Although, it had frankly been hilarious watching her catch Tanaka in a headlock and threatening him with monumental amounts of pain if he so much as looked at little Natsu wrong for the next several centuries as she was getting ready to leave. The bald crow had managed to look horrified in her chokehold while Natsu had simply stared at the spectacle with a bewildered expression. She'd had that kind of effect the entire month she'd spent with them—during which time they'd seen an unusual amount of Ukai as well. Word from Yaku was that there was a very good reason for that…

They'd finished rebuilding their beach house only last month in close to the same place it had been before. They'd done their best to keep it the same as it had been, but they _had_ made the front room bigger to accommodate what seemed like an ever-growing number of people. Ukai had even pulled some strings and had a massive pane of glass shipped in for the big picture window— something Lev had been slightly less than impressed at. Among the many things Saeko had brought with her were cooking utensils, household items and everything that had belonged to the former first unit including bedding and clothing that had been sent along by their parents which helped to outfit and stock their new home.

The beach itself is much different than it used to be, though; much of the shoreline weathered away completely and the ocean is now closer to their front door. A new net had had to be set up on the other side of the small stream in order to avoid the high tide line, and it was almost out of sight of their new home. Once again, Ukai had come through for them and secured a sack of Volley balls for the town so they could actually use it.

It had taken Lev and Yaku about a month before they stopped glowing, indicating that they were completely recovered; Kuroo had taken longer. The black cat had glowed a brilliant red every night for close to six weeks, and it had made him a bit sullen; to be fair, it had been something of a blessing to have Saeko halfway filling that 'sibling' position while he'd been laid up. It had been like getting a glimpse of Tanaka's potential future, and alongside Daichi, she'd very much kept things running smoothly while the black cat had been restricted on movement. The first night he hadn't lit up, he'd gone for a cup of sake the next morning and had promptly joined the others in helping rebuild Sheru Bay.

To the surprise of everyone, no one had seen Tsukishima glow during his recovery. It had made the ibis completely salty when Bokuto had asked him about it and Yamaguchi had quietly explained that they _weren't,_ in fact, levelers. And the quiet breath of pity that everyone had breathed around them had only served to make Tsukishima all the more cranky. Yamaguchi had once more pleaded for their austerity with their interest of any type into the matter, that they didn't need the empathetic looks and murmured sympathies. They were aware and they didn't really care whether they were levelers or not; they intended to stay together regardless. The one who'd managed to do just that the easiest had been Hinata. Akaashi had asked him about it one day and the redhead had turned to him with a thoughtful expression.

"I think they actually are. They aren't as physical as the rest of us, so I don't think they know how to initiate the 'binding' effect. But if they really aren't levelers, I would commend them for staying together when they are surrounded by the rest of _us_. I think it would take a lot of courage to do something like that, and to pity them in that case would be to insult that resolve."

Akaashi had been quietly surprised at the redhead's rather profound remark— and it had been easier to accept with his insight. Even so, they still had three glowing pairs, down from five at the beginning of the summer.

Asahi's wing had mended itself with impressive speed given how many places it had been broken. The large crow still couldn't fly, but he could bend the wing at all the right joints now, and they all were waiting for him to take to the air once more. Natsu still glowed obliviously, but she'd begun itching the ends of her wings something fierce, and they'd all been awed and ecstatic when the buds of new feathers had shown up. Hinata still glowed as he had every night for over four years.

All in all, it had been a full summer.

Akaashi sets the ball for Bokuto just a touch higher than normal, his gaze sharp and focused. The other owl still isn't quite set to hit after diving for a glance off a block as the ball leaves Akaashi's fingertips; the extra height will give him that split second he needs to analyze its path and line up his attack. As Akaashi drops his arms and sinks down for a block follow, the streaked owl's eyes snap to the floating target, his feet shifting into place without thought.

And then the muscles in his shoulders and back ripple, his arms leading his first step before whipping behind him on the next as his body coils to leap. There's a tautness in his wings, but they barely shiver as his feet come together, his arms driving forward once more. The owl leaves the ground, his back arching with steep inversion as his hand pulls back to swing. His body snaps forward, his hand connecting with the ball, his arm completely extended in perfect tandem with the toss.

Akaashi can't help but be awed at the fluid execution, at the way Bokuto's momentary lapse of balance compromised none of the power of the hit.

 _There's no way anyone can touch it_.

He almost relaxes in his stance before he catches a glimpse of orange hair—and he's instantly back on high alert. The shrimp has _massive_ hops and maddening hang time, and he reads hits well enough to be a threat… even with his performances slipping the way they have been the last few months.

It must be a good day, because he's well in place to slow down the hit. It pops up off his palms with a crack that follows the one from Bokuto's hand so fast that Akaashi is confident that if the redhead had been just a little faster and had his hands roofed correctly, he'd be eating it before Bokuto ever touched the ground beside him again. Instead, it flies high off his hands, giving Noya plenty of time to react on the other side of the net.

Akaashi is secretly relieved that they have Yaku on their side; the typical lineup on the other side is formidable in any capacity, Hinata's declining performances notwithstanding—and the small cat is truly a gift to match the unsung strength of the godlike reflexes of the smallest crow on the other side. The two back row players' sheer ability and skills are pretty even and Akaashi is glad they have an asset like that on their side, too.

The former Karasuno unit members frequently stick together, but they occasionally mix up the teams for variety. He'll set for Bokuto any day, could do it in his sleep, but Akaashi enjoys the challenge of trying to match sets to others besides the streaked owl. He regularly sets for Kuroo and Lev and frequently the thrush when he isn't rotating in on the other side, but switching it up keeps him sharper.

The ibis is collected and methodical and as long as Akaashi gets it up high enough for him, the blond can adjust and find his own stride. Asahi is frighteningly powerful, his hits echoing off his hands like Bokuto's, and Akaashi always feels a thrill in his gut when he can sync with the large crow. Daichi might not be the strongest hitter but he's steady whereas Tanaka is the opposite and a complete wildcard.

The bald crow reads sets well and can adjust to anything, so Akaashi has really struggled to pin down a good set for him. The slender owl's mouth sets just a touch. The last time he'd sent him a toss, the bald crow had hit it off his _left_ hand and it had still flown as if it were his dominant arm… it had honestly made Akaashi's eyebrow twitch, and he'd been tempted to just throw his hands in the air and tag Suga in for the next play.

But there's one person he rarely sets for.

The only two that are never apart are the dark-haired crow setter and his fiery leveler. If Hinata is playing, Kageyama is right next to him, his designated setter— exclusively. Kenma has no issue letting the crow run through endless tosses with the redhead, and remarked on how he'd been only too happy to pass that task off when Kageyama had gotten used to not using his wings.

"I can't slack at all when Hinata is hitting… he'd know it." The golden cat had said simply, a quiet smile at the edges of his mouth.

Akaashi imagined that would make sense—Kageyama was always dead on with his sets, every one of them nothing less than perfect. The black-haired crow had even tossed a couple for him and he'd had to agree with the sentiments of Tsukishima… it was _disconcerting_ to have the ball placed so perfectly for a hit every time.

That wasn't to say he didn't like them—they were freaking awesome and made you feel like you couldn't miss, but the eerie accuracy of the crow really made him wonder if Kageyama were somehow more than human. Tsukishima had hypothesized that his mad skills at Volley contributed to the reason for his personality deficit; he was _that_ good at Volley so he had to fail at something else and that just happened to be human interaction.

The ball comes off Noya's arms with controlled precision and Kageyama barely has to move from his position. Akaashi's eyes dart between the Karasuno players, his mind racing to determine who's most likely to get the toss. Kageyama is up out of the back row so they have three front line hitters available, but Asahi's back row attack is still powerful in its own right. Tanaka's wild hits are always a gamble, but they can easily return results if misread. Daichi has mastered a swing hit that cuts across court and hits just in bounds almost every time. And of course, there's Hinata.

It hasn't happened as often lately with Hinata's growing limitations, but they seem to be clicking today. Which means the little bugger is damn hard to read and tougher to follow when he turns on a dime to find the hole in the blocking line. Kageyama's wicked fast and spot on tosses have the redhead scoring almost before their team can react sometimes.

But even if he's playing today, Shouyou's movements have still been pretty stiff, and they've only gotten off a couple _real_ shots. The redhead zips forward regardless, before sidestepping to the right and Akaashi glances at Kageyama for any clue, but he's as collected and on point as ever, his eyes focused on the ball. Kuroo subconsciously shadows Hinata a half step and Akaashi knows Kageyama won't miss it. The ball isn't going to go to Hinata.

The ball leaves Kageyama's fingers as Hinata leaps… but it's heading for Tanaka. Akaashi wants to scowl. One on one, Tanaka can usually beat a single blocker; he hopes Yaku is ready to taste some sand for this one.

But out of the corner of his eye, he sees Kuroo's dark hair and a flash of smirk as the middle whisks to his side.

 _The cat faked out the crow._

Akaashi wants to grin. Kuroo has experience on his side and he's succeeded in influencing Kageyama's decision to toss to someone the black cat has an easier time blocking simply by taking that single step after Hinata. Tanaka winds up at the same time that they leap. The ball cracks off Kuroo's palms and snaps down on the Karasuno side. He, Kuroo, Lev, Yaku, and Yamaguchi cheer.

But there's one voice he's not hearing on his side, and he turns toward Bokuto who's not joining in. Akaashi wonders with annoyance if he got sucked in by Hinata's fake and is moping now, but when his gaze lands on the streaked owl, he's still got a bright smile on his face. He's just focused on the shrimp on the other side of the net.

"You might not have fooled Kuroo, but you still got me." The wing spiker says to Hinata who's bent forward, bracing himself on his knees.

He grins up at Bokuto, and Akaashi can't help but think they _are_ a little alike. Akaashi himself would have been just fine letting well enough alone when they'd first stumbled on the beach group. He'd been actually rather alarmed when he'd seen a _mass_ of people flood out on the heels of Hinata's screech when the streaked owl had obliviously pushed in too close in his single-minded curiosity—really, Feathers' freaky flat death glare had been quite chilling as he'd dropped between them with a murderous glint in his icy cobalt eyes. And he'd known when the redhead had extended the tentative challenge to play Volley with them masked as an invitation that Bokuto had been unable to help himself.

Akaashi didn't need constant human interaction to stay sane. He had no issues living with other people, and he'd lived for centuries completely alone, too. It didn't bother him one way or another whether he shared a living space with a roommate. At least it hadn't until he'd become the unwilling Velcro buddy to a certain streaked owl. Seriously, those first few years had been maddening.

Akaashi really has no idea how the relationship between himself and Bokuto ever grew out of that initial fracas. He'd even tried ditching the other once or twice early on only to be faced by an undeterred Bokuto who was surprisingly adept at tracking. The streaked owl never seemed put out—Akaashi almost wondered if he even realized he'd been _aiming_ to shake the larger owl. He'd grudgingly resigned himself to being attached to the blasted avian for the foreseeable future after a third failed attempt where Bokuto had shown back up with food and a declaration that he would make sure that Akaashi was never lonely.

He doesn't know where along the line the streaked owl's occasional bouts of thoughtfulness stopped striking him as stupid. He has no idea how the utterly vexing moments where he seemed to occasionally lose all sensible mental function ceased to be infuriating and had become amusing—or at what point his mood swings had no longer been a chore to deal with. He doesn't know when the irritation at his presence had grown into something he didn't think he could live without. He has no idea how they've come so far… because he's never really _needed_ other people like he does Koutarou; they were simply fixtures in the world.

But Bokuto… was far more like the shrimp spiker than most people probably realized. Akaashi had watched the other owl quite literally _come alive_ in the weeks following that first tense meeting on the beach. He'd gotten so excited, so happy, so _vibrant_ at simply being surrounded by other avians, that Akaashi hadn't had the heart to tell him he hadn't been as keen on staying. Years of wariness from other people had in turn made him uneasy around everyone; Bokuto, on the other hand, had _thrived_ on the interactions of playing, eating, and conversing with the others without being ostracized or feared.

And Akaashi is grateful to the beach group for that; they'd given Bokuto something Akaashi never could have managed alone. Having gotten to know and love the rest of the beach crew probably almost as much as the streaked owl aside, he's gotten to see so many new faces of the streaked owl since, and he can't regret the decision to stay. He might have never learned that this occasionally childish, charismatic moron is his leveler—and the circumstance that led to that knowledge had been more terrifying than he'd ever admit. Seeing Koutarou speared through the chest with that rod had felt like he'd had his entire world upended; it was the first time he'd realized that he could no longer picture his future without the streaked owl in it. Without the beach crew, he might never have realized what Bokuto was to him.

But knowing Bokuto that well, he knows that with how volatile his moods can be, the larger owl would never be so jolly if he'd actually just been sucked in by the redhead's bluff attack, but if Hinata had said something similar to the owl, Koutarou would have puffed up in pride just like the shrimp is now.

Bokuto is surprisingly good at sympathizing with others, so Akaashi knows what he's doing now. He's constantly been buoying the shrimp up since that run in with the snakes with an urgency that sometimes makes Akaashi concerned that he's bordering on annoyance, but that's not what's happening this time. The other owl is humoring Shouyou, and the setter's gaze narrows on the redhead.

His shoulders are tense and his jaw is tight around his bright smile, a good indication that he's probably hurting. Bent over like he is, Akaashi can see the definite ridges that run down his back through his shirt.

They've really grown more prominent in the last year, Hinata's declining performances directly correlating with their rapid onset development. They've always been raised against his ribs and noticeable if you were looking, but Akaashi is positive their protrusion from his back has grown. The long bones beneath the skin are now accented with sinewy ligaments and muscles, their hardness tempered with the firm rope-like tendons that stretch from the main joint by each hip. If Hinata ever has his shirt off, it's almost possible to make out the outline of naked folded wings.

Hinata used to be able to bend and move—for the most part—normally. Those first few years, the bones used to just pull the skin and distort it into some freaky web-looking growth that everyone found both hilarious and disturbing when he'd bend, but with the appearance of the corded tissue for mobility and control, virtually all spinal movement had been gradually restricted to almost nothing. The inversion he used to get when he'd spike is nonexistent now and his back is always ramrod straight… to Akaashi, it seems to have entered into a permanent state of slowly worsening tetany.

A lot of the power he'd had was lost without the flexibility of his back and the muscles hadn't been legitimately stretched out in probably a year. There were days where Hinata could barely move because they were cramping so bad, and he couldn't sleep on his back anymore at all. It had steadily worsened until even the 'binding' connection with Kageyama wasn't always enough to completely ease the seizing muscles anymore.

Akaashi has never heard Hinata complain, but it's gotten bad enough that he's begun willingly subbing out and letting others play in his stead—there are days he's even begged out of Volley altogether. It's the single greatest indicator about how much pain he's actually suffering, because the kid _lives_ to play Volley.

And all this has done nothing but frazzle Kageyama. Honestly, the crow setter was probably getting about as much sleep as the redhead. Akaashi had woken on more than one occasion in the last few weeks and found both the setter and small spiker awake at unholy hours of the night with eyes dulled by exhaustion despite the way Hinata's feathers still glowed.

A sleep deprived Hinata wasn't as sunny; a sleep deprived Kageyama was downright surly. The avian heir was so cranky with worry that he'd even bested Tsukishima in a battle of barbs a couple times. Akaashi can't help but feel sorry for the two—Hinata because he constantly seems like he's in pain and Kageyama because there's nothing he can do to fix it and he knows it.

No one can do _anything…_ except wait. Akaashi wishes for the millionth time for Hinata's wings to hurry up and finish growing so they can break out.

The black-haired crow in question comes up behind Hinata with a feather light touch on his shoulder, a silent question in the tension at the corners of his eyes and mouth.

 _Are you okay?_ Akaashi can almost hear the unspoken words. Hinata glances back at him with a bright smile before straightening up—an affirmative—and Kageyama holds his silence and returns to his position.

Another couple plays, another rotation, and the shrimp and setter sync as if they've finally hit the same wave length. The little redhead gets two consecutive points off his hits, the first a complete misread on their side and the second a block out off Kuroo's hands that no matter how far Yaku stretches for, he comes up short.

Tanaka's serves are as varied and unpredictable as the bald crow himself and the next one chips the top of the net and Akaashi dives to keep it up. Kuroo scrambles and takes the set, sending it to the back row for Yamaguchi. The crow lines up and his hand connects perfectly. The ball whizzes past Hinata's block and down just in front of Asahi. Hinata is doing well; his hands were well above the net and he seems to be loosening up, but Akaashi has to smirk. The diminutive freckled crow at his back is a shoo-in for dynamite serves and his back-row attack is pretty close to one.

They rotate and in a moment where Akaashi is sure he's gone completely mental, he serves the ball straight into the net. Bokuto laughs and murmurs some encouragement but Akaashi scoffs as he lines up to receive.

"Shove it you streaked pigeon." He grumbles, irritated with his own lapse of concentration.

Hinata rotates into the back and his serve floats high. Akaashi quickly moves forward, letting Yaku and Lev cover the back line. Though nothing impressive, the lanky cat has gotten much better at receives– what with _Yaku_ as his leveler—and Hinata's will be light enough that the owl setter isn't worried. As the ball pops up for him, he takes stock of the other side in an instant.

Tsukishima is in front again and the only one on their side who can legitimately outjump the blond is Lev who is back line at the moment. The blocker is clever and good at picking up cues so Kuroo will have a challenge to get it past him—especially if they pull in either side blocker for a double. But as good as the ibis is at reading hits, Daichi is better and Bokuto would be facing two blockers guaranteed unless the black cat could draw Tsukishima off, so his default to the other owl is probably less sound than Kuroo.

But… Hinata served so that means Noya isn't in again yet and with Kageyama setting, only the redhead and Tanaka will be guarding the back. The real threat is Tsukishima; if Kuroo can fool him, Akaashi can find one of the wing spikers. And since the longer set from his position—and therefore the easier one to read with more time to react—is to Bokuto, the optimal choice is Yamaguchi behind him. If the crow goes up against Asahi alone, he has a good chance of beating him.

Kuroo is very attentive and Akaashi knows he doesn't miss the motion when he ticks his left ear as he brings his hands over his head for the set. The cat lines up and rushes a step ahead of tempo, faking a quick… and Akaashi smothers his grin as Tsukishima bites. The ball leaves his hands headed for Yamaguchi and he hears the ibis swear.

He turns in time to see the crow connect, the ball just outside of Asahi's elbow and headed for center court. Tanaka dives and gets under it but it ricochets. Hinata's feet are flying before any of the other Karasuno members react. The ball sails far off-court and Noya whistles on the sideline, but the short crow grins confidently at the small redhead speeding toward it.

Hinata's nearly in the reeds at the edge of the beach when he turns to get a visual back on the court and swings, stopping his shoulders and arms to make the platform solid even as his feet and body keep going. Really his ball control and handling has improved immensely. The redhead stumbles backward as the ball leaves his forearms and there's a catch in Akaashi's head—like he's forgotten something—before the ball is heading straight back to the court almost on top of Tsukishima's position.

The ibis sets his feet and simply leaps, aiming for Lev's back corner. Akaashi knows the grey cat will never reach it as it slips by Kuroo and Yamaguchi and it drops before he can dive. The owl setter straightens and blows out a half sigh.

Tsukishima won't fall too often for Kuroo's slips. He turns back toward the net, resolved to try Kuroo this time as he waits for Hinata to serve again… but the redhead is nowhere in sight. His eyes snap toward the last place he saw him and he almost flinches.

 _That's_ what he'd forgotten.

There was a log firmly lodged into the sand after the tsunami amid the seagrass where the redhead had chased the ball down, the reeds almost completely hiding it from view. But the grasses are disturbed, the stalks broken and bent, and Akaashi knows the small spiker went over it. Kageyama is already headed his way and Akaashi notices Kuroo go rigid.

"Hinata?"

Kenma jerks to his feet from the sideline behind them, sand flying, and when Akaashi looks toward him, the golden cat's pupils are huge as his gaze locks with Kuroo. None of them can really see him, but the odd catch in the redhead's voice puts everyone on alert when he answers.

"K… Kageyama…" It's half whimper and sounds like he's in some steep pain and Akaashi automatically assumes he landed on his back. Kageyama is instantly hurtling over the log, his shoulders tense—and then he freezes.

" _Shit._ " The expletive is out of his mouth almost too quietly to hear as he drops down and Daichi starts heading toward them with a frown that borders on anxious.

"Suga?" Kageyama's voice is full of fear and uncertainty as he calls for the thrush. "Suga, we need Kiyoko!"

The thrush nods and splits to go find the female crow while the entire Karasuno side immediately drift toward the terrified words of the other setter, Noya scrambling with panic.

"Better get Yachi, too." The black cat says and Kenma takes off without a backward glance, streaking toward the house. The owl takes quick stock of the other two cats and notes how they both look tense from head to toe.

"Oi." Akaashi says at Kuroo's shoulder. "What do you guys know that we don't?" He says uncertainly, because the black cat had sent Kenma for _Yachi_.

 _Yachi_ … _that can only mean…_

"Blood." Kuroo says heavily as he starts toward where the Karasuno unit huddle with horrified gasps around Kageyama's bent shape on the other side of the log.

"A lot of it."

A/N: Wah, an Akaashi chapter ^.^ I honestly wasn't sure how to write him, because my biggest impressions on him are polite, but occasionally blunt. And time skips. time skips everywhere in this story.

Thank you all for your patience while I tackled three days of insanity, you are all wonderful. I have spent the last twenty four hours in the company of an 18mo old and a five year old... yearly dose of birth control covered, lol. They are hands down honestly some of the BEST kids I've ever been around and I love them, but I'm never having my own. I don't know how their mom and dad have energy for ANYTHING, because I feel exhausted just having watched them be the amazing parents they are. If any of you people have children, I raise my drink to you, because I don't think I could ever do it.

So, looks like i'm going to have 37 chapters total. I currently have two chapters I still have to hash out, so I don't know if I can promise daily updates on those two, but I should have some down time and will be working to finish them on schedule. Again, you guys are the best. Have a lovely evening guys!


	32. Year Four,50 2-2 Metamorphic Revival

**YEAR FOUR.50 2/2 Metamorphic Revival**

Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. ~Leonardo Da Vinci

 **Hitoka Yachi** is half asleep with Kiyoko, the two girls curled up with Natsu in the afternoon sunshine that spills across the porch. The days are still warm enough to enjoy a nap outside, a luxury they likely won't have in another week or so, and the blond idly runs her hand through the girl child's wild orange hair.

"Shimizu!"

The sound of the thrush's piercing call makes Yachi jump badly enough that she nearly tumbles Natsu off the bench. She and Kiyoko are on their feet before they see Suga come zipping around the corner, followed quickly by a blond streak that fluidly vaults the stream, easily keeping pace with the thrush.

Yachi's hair stands on end. The last time people were calling for them like this, Bokuto had a rod in his chest. Suga lands on the porch, his chest swelling and shrinking with his rapid breathing.

 _He literally just did an air sprint to get here_ , Yachi thinks, and mentally thanks the skies that his lung has long since healed from the arrow.

"It's Hinata." He says sharply around his gasps and Kenma stops at his elbow.

"There's blood." He says, his eyes wide and Yachi feels her heart stutter.

 _Oh, no._

Natsu pulls in a gasp and leaps from the porch before Kiyoko can stop her, her little legs speeding toward the net.

"Can you move him?" The female crow asks, turning back toward Suga.

"Not sure. But if there's blood, we should probably have everything ready. I'll head back and see what's going on, can you guys get stuff going?"

"Of course," Kiyoko says before turning to Kenma. "We don't have an herb box anymore… can you grab someone to fly for them and we will have a list by the time you're back?" She asks and they both turn and vacate the porch.

Yachi spins and dashes inside, Kiyoko right on her heels. As they struggle to pull the table in front of the window, the door bursts open and Lev and Kuroo are already hauling in firewood for the stove, Daichi following up with collecting a pot for water. Bokuto steps in and squeezes her shoulder and she quickly abandons the heavy table to the large owl and his leveler and runs in search of her needles and scissors. Yaku brushes by her with a large piece of white fabric and by the time she's returning with her small pack of medical supplies, Noya is crashing through the doorway.

"Where's the list?" He says, his eyes huge. Yachi jumps, having forgotten it in her haste to get things ready.

"Here." Kiyoko says, pressing a piece of paper into his hand, and the blond whispers her gratitude to the stars for the pretty crow's handle on the situation. Noya spins and disappears back out the door. When the bunting turns around, Kenma has filled a bowl with water and a rag, and she quietly marvels.

The chaos around her is methodical, like organized mayhem as everyone leaps to various tasks with urgent efficiency. From the outside, she's sure it looks like complete disarray, but in the span of time it takes before she hears commotion on the front porch, the table is prepped, a fire is roaring to life in the stove to boil water, and everything is set this time when the door opens.

Yachi has no idea what to expect, but Tanaka and a shirtless Kageyama sidle inside, Hinata's arms thrown over their shoulders. The redhead is pale and Yachi wonders if he's passed out… and she can't see any blood. For an instant, she wonders if this was a false alarm as everyone else crowds inside after them. But then the two crows move to lay him down on his stomach on the table, and Yachi's heart stutters.

Hinata's entire back is bloody, the red liquid staining his shirt and smearing across the skin. Kageyama doesn't have a shirt on because it's wrapped around something protruding from Hinata's ribs and her heart leaps in her throat as her intuition sparks. Even bloody and staining the avian prince's shirt, Yachi recognizes the features of a bald wing, and she pulls in a sharp breath.

Now more than ever, she laments the loss of Miss Haruka, because one of Hinata's wings has broken free.

Suga grabs a pillow and places it under the redhead's chest to make him more comfortable and his grunt as they lower him onto the table spurs her muscles to act and she pushes forward to get a better look. If that pained sound came from him, he was still lucid… which meant he was probably in a world of hurt.

As they release him, one of his hands latches onto Kageyama with a grip as white knuckled as Akaashi's had been on Bokuto, his breath coming in taught gasps as he struggles to control it. Feathers kneels in front of him, his cobalt eyes wide and fixed on his face, one hand burying itself into his hair as he presses his forehead to the small redhead's.

"It hurts!" Hinata whimpers, his voice straining.

"I know it does. It will be alright Shouyou. Hold onto me." Kageyama says fiercely and Yachi almost wants to weep, but she takes a deep breath and turns her attention back on the critical issue with resolve.

For a moment, she is grateful he happened to be wearing one of the low backed shirts they all favor, because if he had been wearing a normal one, it would be more precarious to remove without touching the damaged part of his back. But as she notices the sand that sticks in patches to his skin and the blood, her opinion changes. If he'd have been wearing a normal shirt, the free wing would have remained trapped against his body and probably have rubbed painfully against it, but it wouldn't be full of the irritating fine ocean grains.

 _This might be more painful; she can't just stitch everything back together without washing it all out really well which will be anything but pleasant._

The bunting grabs her scissors and carefully cuts through the back of the garment, distractedly musing that they seem to lose a lot of these. Why couldn't someone sustain an injury that didn't require the destruction of a perfectly good shirt?

She pushes the garment aside and cautiously unwraps Kageyama's shirt from around the freed wing, whispering an apology when it bumps the open break in Hinata's skin making him go rigid. She does note that the bald wing twitches at the motion, but doesn't make him tense.

 _Does that mean the wing itself isn't in pain?_

She frowns as she pulls the shirt away, her eyes studying the limb that has freed itself of its skin encasement. It is still clamped tightly against itself, the long bones still nestled together and the corded muscles and tendons slack. Her head tilts for several long moments before she shakes it and turns her attention to Hinata's back.

The wing has ruptured the skin from his shoulder to his hip, the underlying muscle laid bare as the protective layer that had kept it safe folds back on itself. The striated lines of tissue that make up the lat aren't damaged and don't bleed themselves, but the torn skin does. When Kiyoko places a sterile pile of wraps and bandages beside the bowl for her use, Yachi cringes.

The water from the stream is ice cold, the water from the pot boiling. Nothing would feel good on this in any case, but lukewarm water would be ideal. She wants to frown. Unfortunately, there is probably very little about this situation that would be 'ideal'.

"Suga, can we try and temper the water in the bowl with some off the stove a little? It might be a little less uncomfortable that way." She murmurs and the thrush readily jumps to her request.

Her eyes fall to the other wing still safely encased in his back, her eyes comparing the ridges with the one that's free. It's strange, she thinks, that the one just looks like an alien skeletal growth and the other almost looks… like the fully formed limb of an infant, except much larger. She frowns.

 _All my diagrams were lost with the old house…_

The bunting's eyes leap to grey cat's.

"Lev, can you bring me one of the grouse you caught this morning for dinner? Strip and pluck it completely?" She says.

The lanky feline nods and disappears, and she reaches for a rag as Suga adds warmer water to the bowl beside her. She dips the rag into the water feeling awful for how this is going to hurt even if the temperature has been mitigated somewhat. She drops a feathery touch on the redhead's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Hinata. This is going to sting." She says, her voice coming out _mournful_ and she wants to kick herself. Nothing would freak someone out worse in this situation than hearing _that_ tone— like she were lamenting someone's impending doom.

"Hold on." Akaashi says, pushing through the others in the room. He drops a hand on Natsu's head where she hangs anxiously off Yachi's elbow, and leans forward holding out a few leaves to Kageyama.

"Have him chew on these. They're bitter but they will help sedate him." Yachi's brows rise with surprise as Kageyama mutely does as he's told.

"Kratom? Where did you find that?"

"There's a tree that survived the tsunami just off the path behind the house. We found it when we were rebuilding." He answers, shredding the rest of the leaves in his hand. "And kava kava. It grows like a weed even with all the salt from the ocean. He's still conscious so it might help numb the pain."

Yachi almost doesn't keep herself from staring suspiciously at the smaller owl. She and Suga had grown pretty well versed in tending injuries for the last couple years before they'd lost Miss Haruka, but they hadn't had much chance to get deep into her knowledge on herbal remedies, yet. Her absence has certainly been felt in the last few months and Yachi has privately grieved over her death more than once. She and Suga had been left largely adrift in their medical studies, and the bunting can't help but feel the sting of losing all her knowledge. Still…

 _When the heck had Akaashi taken an interest in plants?_

She must fail to keep her eyebrows level because he pauses when she looks at him. Remembering that she has a bleeding redhead in front of her, she shakes her head once and takes the leaves from him. Whispering another apology, she gently applies them around the edges of the torn skin as Noya returns.

"Got it." He says, handing his packet off to Kiyoko who immediately sets to work brewing what Yachi is positive will be an awful tasting tea that Hinata will automatically hate.

She picks up the rag once more and slowly begins cleaning the blood from the undamaged parts of Hinata's back, and slowly, the tension seeps from his muscles as the plants take effect. The redhead gradually goes listless from the kratom, the pain from his back dulling under the juice from the kava kava leaves.

And only when she sees Hinata's grasp on Kageyama loosen just a touch does she take a deep breath and start washing the open wound itself. He still tenses at the contact, but he remains silent and motionless and Yachi breaths a half sigh of relief.

 _They are really going to have to protect that kratom tree for when someone else does something stupid. They could_ really _have used it when Asahi's wing was shattered._

The poor crow had had _nothing_ for anesthetic aside from the tea Akaashi'd brewed for him— a poor substitute next to something like kratom or kava kava. But they'd kind of been in a bind at the time; there wasn't much to be _had_ after the tsunami had destroyed everything. They'd depleted Takeda's minimal on hand stash in no time and had had to scour the countryside for more.

As the rag turns red from the blood that still leaks from the damaged tissues, she carefully cleans away all sand and bits of grass, and for a moment, she wonders if Hinata rolled on the ground after he ruptured the wing capsule—which is stupid, but she can think of no other reason why he'd have sand all over in it. She carefully takes hold of the flap of skin that had covered it, spreading it so that she can clean that as well.

When Lev brings her the plucked bird like she'd asked, she rinses her hands and takes it, Suga hovering right over her shoulder. She stretches one of the small creature's balded wings out and positions it just like Hinata's, her eyes skipping between the two. She knows it's a poor comparison; the grouse is many times smaller and the wing structure isn't quite the same, but…

"Look at these." Suga says with an almost hushed voice, his finger pointing to the end of the redhead's exposed limb.

And she sees what he means. The almost unnoticeable dots along Hinata's wing… the tiny dimples run its length.

"Follicles." She murmurs with awe. "That means…"

Her eyes lock with Suga's whose grey orbs are bright with restrained excitement. Her heart skips and she turns to the avian heir.

"Kageyama." She says quietly and nods to him when he looks up at her. The black-haired setter frowns slightly, but eases himself up from in front of Hinata who watches him lethargically, his hand not releasing his leveler's.

"It might be a little earlier than ideal, but… I think they're _ready_." She breathes softly. Kageyama blinks at her and then looks at Hinata's ruptured wing.

"What?" He says, and Yachi points to the dots all along the wing with a ghosting finger.

"This is _skin_ , Kageyama. That means all the other structural components should be there. Kageyama, Hinata's wings are ready." She repeats and the setter stares at the loose bald wing, and sways slightly.

"Are you alright?" She asks automatically. His dazed blue eyes find hers.

"Shouyou's going to fly again?"

"Of course," Yachi says with a small smile. "It's just…" Those royal blue eyes sharpen on her and her shoulders come up a bit with nervous tension.

"Just what?" He asks, a slight urgency in his tone.

"Whatever we do to one…" She trails away helplessly, hating that they've been forced into this situation.

"If we just leave this one, they might develop at uneven rates when the other finally comes out." Suga supplies, and Yachi briefly glances at him gratefully. The avian heir looks between them with a furrowed brow.

"So, what are our options?" He asks, and the bunting lets out a breath in relief, because Kageyama understands the dilemma.

"If we leave it out, we should probably release the other, too. If we want to leave the other inside… I can probably put this one back in, but…" She says, her eyes slipping self-consciously away from the crow setter's intense gaze.

"It will happen again, won't it?" He finishes for her and she nods.

"It might not be next week or even next month, but, yes, they will rupture eventually and we will probably be right back here again. I know it's probably earlier than it should be, but I think it will be okay. And—" she looks up at Kageyama, debating for a moment whether to voice her thoughts before taking a breath and just speaking, "it might be better to release the other in a controlled environment like this so it doesn't have a chance to tear his skin like this one did. He's already here and half out of it, so I um… I think it would be better to go with the first option." She says, her nerves making her entire body tense as she voices her opinion.

The setter frowns and looks back at the redhead who still absently holds onto his hand. Kageyama moves back in front of him and drops down so they're face to face. Hinata focuses on him with a very murky pair of almond eyes and a muscle flicks across Kageyama's temple.

"Shouyou, can you hear me?" He says softly. Hinata doesn't move, his affirmative little more than a quiet hum from his lungs.

"Mm."

"Shouyou, we are going to free your wings. Yachi thinks it'll be okay." He murmurs, placing a hand on the redhead's face to try and ensure that he has his attention.

The bunting tries to stuff down the nervous skip her heart does at Kageyama's declaration, feeling the weight of the responsibility of this decision. For better or worse, they are trusting her judgement. Hazy almond eyes drift across the setter's face.

"Kay." Kageyama half flinches, but meets her gaze once more.

And Yachi is completely overwhelmed by the emotion in them. Fear, adoration, concern, dread, hope, guilt, and _trust_. There are _so many_ things slipping through Kageyama's face that she is quietly astonished at the depth and range of emotions he feels with regard to the small spiker. Kageyama nods once before Hinata sluggishly moves just a touch and draws his immediate attention back away from her.

"Mm… you'll stay?" He murmurs clumsily, the kratom slurring the words. Kageyama huffs slightly and places a kiss against his forehead.

"I've come this far already, there's no way I'd leave you now, idiot." He says with a pained smile, and the bunting is abruptly fighting back tears.

 _Okay, so: no looking at those two while I do this or I might really mess something up,_ she mentally scolds herself.

She sets about treating the open muscle with a mild antiseptic from the herbs Noya retrieved and a hash of yarrow before she settles in to suture the skin back into place across his back. It is slow work and the row of stitches is chaotic because the skin didn't tear in a neat line, and Hinata flinches now and then when she apparently catches a more prevalent nerve. For the most part, he drifts in a half-lucid fog and Yachi almost marvels at the potency of that tree… she hadn't thought kratom could be this strong.

Even so, she has yet to see the small spiker lose his hold on his leveler. Kageyama remains in front of him, his eyes ever fixed on the redhead's blank expression. He periodically checks their progress, but mostly keeps himself occupied on other things; Yachi knows he doesn't do that well with open wounds, and she also knows he's trying to avoid another incident like when Akaashi had passed out.

When she does glance up from her work about halfway through, she notices that most of the others have fled the room. The only ones who remain are Suga, Tanaka, Asahi, and of course, Kageyama. A small hand finds her shirt with the least of tugs and she glances to her side with surprise.

 _Ah. And Natsu._

She'd been so quiet that no one apparently noticed her and Yachi has a moment to doubt the wisdom of letting her stay and watch; she really hopes Hinata's sister doesn't have nightmares from this. The little girl looks up at her imploringly, her large almond eyes that look so like the redhead's beneath her hands brimming slightly.

"Sho be okay?" She asks, her other hand landing on the redhead's back and Yachi almost jumps at how close it is to the sutures she's already set. She quickly closes a hand around hers with gentle firmness.

"Yes, he will be okay… but we probably don't want to touch right now, okay?" She says and Tanaka is already moving.

"Hey Munchkin, can you help me? We should go find him something to eat for when Yachi is finished." He says, scooping her up.

Natsu might be pretty mild most days, but the girl isn't stupid and she immediately knows the crow is trying to distract her. She pushes against him with a fierce frown, her lower lip trembling.

" _Non_. I stay!"

"We can't stay, kiddo. Yachi needs to finish."

"Non!" She says sharply, her voice rising and her tears spilling over. The bald crow's expression drops into a scowl, his discomfort clear, but as he starts walking away, his jaw sets with resolve.

And Natsu panics.

"Non! I stay! I do nothing! I stay!" She yelps making Yachi jump.

She pushes against Tanaka, her small feet kicking and wings snapping with agitation. The redhead on the table in front of her stirs and she sucks in a sharp breath. Kageyama immediately looks up, his eyes cracking with concern.

"Tanaka." He says, his tone level and weighted and the other crow freezes— and so does Natsu, hiccupping sobs racking her little chest through the abrupt tension.

"She can stay. If she comes and sits here with me." He says haltingly.

Natsu's large watery gaze falls on him, her mouth open, and Tanaka glances at him over her head. The bald crow's shoulders loosen just a bit and he taps her cheek lightly to get her attention.

"You heard Feathers. You can stay, but if you don't listen to him, I'll have to take you out, okay?" He says when she looks at him.

Her lower lip trembles, but she nods and he lets her down. She quickly scurries over to Kageyama who easily settles her into his lap, his attention already back on Hinata. Yachi takes a deep breath and starts again as the bald crow steps outside.

Asahi keeps the wound clear of blood so she can see it properly, Suga keeps her needles threaded for the next stitch. More than once, she has to reset a stitch or double one up in order to keep the shredded edges of skin pulled together. She hates how she's pulling it tight across his back, but she's forced to in order to make sure some of them hold. She knows they will probably induce bruising, but she has no choice. As she sets the final one she releases a sigh, her gaze sliding to the other wing that is still imprisoned.

And she is hit with a dilemma: she doesn't have a scalpel or surgical blade.

"Ano… I um…" She starts before one of their hunting knives slides onto the table beside her. She looks up in surprise to see the bald crow standing over her shoulder with a flat expression.

"I asked Kuroo to sharpen it, so it should cut clean. He almost vomited and Tsukishima and Daichi had to finish it." Yachi's head tilts in bafflement—and she's apparently not the only one.

"What?" Asahi asks and the crow looks away.

"I can't say I like the idea of using one of our gutting knives on one of our own either… but I don't know if we have anything else." He mutters with a fierce frown. Her mouth forms into a small 'o', the awful irony of that truth hitting her in the gut.

"Did you run it through the hot water?" She asks meekly.

"Bokuto did that. He wasn't happy either." He murmurs.

 _Everyone is stressed._ She realizes. _This little mass of sunshine being in pain sets them all on edge._

But it was a necessary pain, and one he wouldn't be able to escape. Whether he wanted them or not, was ready for them or not, Hinata's wings rupturing was a given at this point. The most they could do was ease that transition and alleviate the pain as much as possible.

Her jaw sets just a little and she picks up the knife, it's weight uncomfortable in her hand. It's no scalpel, it's blade far too large, and its size clumsy for the delicate precision that will be required. She's used it to help gut a kill herself before, never having considered that she might use it for a purpose like this. She never imagined she'd be using it to cut open Hinata's skin.

Her fingers ghost over the remaining ridge that runs down Hinata's back, and she looks up at Suga for input. The thrush frowns in thought before tracing a finger along its edge.

"If it is early, we wouldn't want to chance damaging the wing in the event that it is still slightly under developed." He murmurs.

Yachi nods and picks the knife up once more. Whispering another apology to the redhead and doing her damnedest do ignore that tension that has built into Kageyama's face or Natsu's wide-eyed horror, she gently presses the very tip into the skin near his hip.

Blood wells quickly around the blade, but she has to give the guys credit; it bites cleanly into the flesh, the sharp edge disappearing beneath the surface with very little pressure. Asahi is right there with a towel to place over the incision as she continues up the edge of the wing, her hand quivering only a touch. She _really_ hopes she's getting deep enough; it is going to suck if she has to go over it a second time. She tries to keep a mental image of the blade tip in her head and match it up to how deep she'd placed the stitches on his other side, her bottom lip catching between her teeth anxiously.

The blade slides smoothly through his pale flesh and over his ribs, the red running right after it and she wants to weep for putting another scar on him. Hinata twitches, his muscles slowly tightening, but Yachi grits her teeth and keeps the knife moving. It cuts perfectly up to his wing base and the top of the ridge before she finally removes it from his skin and drops it on the table as if she's been shocked.

Her eyes meet Suga's and he nods with his jaw set. The thrush mimicking her movements, she gently pries the skin apart. Blood spills and she suppresses the urge to whimper. She can see the smooth lighter tissue beneath and one of her thumbs brushes against it as she finds and wedges her fingers under the edge of the skin layer. Following her lead, the thrush does the same, and they slowly pull the skin away from the appendage.

But the limb doesn't spring free.

It remains nestled in place against the lat muscle beneath it as more blood leaks from the incision that was _plenty_ deep. She can see that she'd skimmed slightly into that muscle bed, the cut leaking blood more rapidly. She gently presses against the sealed limb only to meet resistance. She frowns and glances at the other one that sits free.

 _These are really wedged in here. He must have hit that one with a good amount of force to knock it loose_ and _break it out._ Her head tilts and she glances up at Asahi.

"Can you deliver a light blow from the other side against the bottom of it?"

Kageyama looks up with alarm, but the large crow swallows hard and nods. Stiffening his palm, he brings it up against the other side of the encased wing, his fingers glinting with a smear of blood from the towels. There's a quiet thud as the soft tissue of his palm collides with the ridge and Hinata twitches. She presses lightly against it again but it is still stuck fast.

"Once more?" She implores, and Asahi grimaces but repeats the motion with a little more force.

Hinata grunts as he connects, the air leaving his lungs, and his hand that still holds onto Kageyama jerks. The bunting cringes and places an apologetic hand on his shoulder until he stills again, feeling awful.

Yachi checks once more and _this_ time, there's play in the limb when she prods it. Her fingers covered in blood, she slides them under the skin and hooks them across the top of the trapped wing. Slowly, carefully, she puts pressure on it to ease it forward and out of the incision.

"Ow." Hinata murmurs sluggishly, but aside from his shoulders tensing, he barely moves. Still, he is responding more to the pain; the kratom is probably starting to wear off.

"I'm so sorry Hinata." She says, not letting up, because the bottom has come free.

She works the limb out, the main joint still tightly clasping the wing shut, and desperately tries not to think about the blood that Asahi keeps mopping up. As it emerges, the tension in the wing base eases and mobility increases as it pulls away from the muscle and skin covering. And then it's loose and separate from Hinata's back, a perfect featherless infantile wing just like the other. She breathes out a sigh of relief.

Asahi takes up the task of cleaning the new limb while Suga starts threading her needles again. Stitching the knife's trail is much easier than the torn edges on Hinata's other side and it goes quicker, her hands moving almost without thought to pull the skin back together, and Suga almost can't keep up. Hinata is nearly all there again by the time she lays the last suture, his shoulders tensing despite the kava kava leaves she'd used to try and numb the area.

Suga gently wipes down the rest of his skin and they help him to sit up, a process that stretches the stitched skin all across his back. He hisses sharply, that hand going white knuckled around Kageyama's once more, and Yachi apologizes for what is probably the hundredth time as they carefully wrap his back and torso. When she ties the wrapping off over one of his shoulders, his head tilts at catching the motion out of the corner of his eye.

And then he catches sight of one freed wing and though still a little hazy, his almond orbs go wide. He stares at it, mesmerized, before a frown of concentration breaks his features.

The bunting recognizes that look and is torn between stopping Hinata and encouraging him. His mind still has the muscle memory, but these new wings have never been asked to do anything and will not share the remembered feeling. Still, Hinata is Hinata, and Hinata will try, no matter how fuzzy his mind might be from the remnants of the kratom in his system.

And slowly, the winglet spreads, stretching until it is almost completely extended. Yachi can't help the blinding smile that overtakes her face, her whole frame relaxing. If he can move it like that, everything really _is_ all there and unharmed.

"You have your wings, Hinata." She says, and he turns that awed foggy gaze on her. "I'm… not sure when the feathers will come in, and they definitely have some growing to do, but they are out and complete and perfect." She murmurs.

"She did amazing. Now you get to start recovery." Tanaka says over her shoulder, handing a steaming glass to the redhead. "Kiyoko's orders." Hinata gingerly takes it from him, his nose wrinkling at the herbal scent.

"This is going to suck isn't it?" He mumbles.

"If you talk nice to Suga, he might sweeten it for you next time. Drink this one and it should knock you out for a bit." The bald crow says.

They carefully settle Kageyama in place so Hinata can sprawl on his stomach against him as the room fills with people once more. They all stare; and Yachi reminds herself that a majority of them have never seen Hinata with wings, so they are as new to them as the small spiker himself. The redhead is content enough against the crow setter that he starts glowing before he's even asleep, the light he throws much brighter than what the few feathers had produced before. As Hinata lets out a light sigh, she smiles and escapes outside for fresh air as Suga and Asahi finish cleaning up.

She plops down on the steps, her eyes drifting to the waves that are closer to her feet than they were last year.

 _Hinata has his wings. He will fly again._

A happy little smile blooms across her face, a streak of giddy joy leaping in her gut. It was only last month that Hinata had been complaining about how _long_ it was taking.

"Seriously, it's a pair of wings and it's been _years._ Even an infant only takes _one_ to develop—and there is a _lot_ more involved in an entire baby than there are in a pair of wings."

"This is a little different I think, Hinata." She'd said with a wry smile.

"Moms can make an entire new little fledgling in a year while I can't seem to sprout new wings in over four times that."

"You aren't sprouting them at all, your leveler bond is. I don't think you can classify them the same." Suga had chimed in.

"Why not?" He'd muttered petulantly.

"Well, a mother creates life where a leveler bond can only preserve it for one. And the energy supply is constant for an infant where you only initiate 'binding' when you sleep for another. At the very least, if they acted the same energy wise, it would take a _minimum_ of three times as long to completely regenerate functional wings. And that's assuming you actually sleep the normal eight hours, which I _know_ you don't because you are always up well before the sun. Also, your wings are significantly _larger_ than an infant's. It took you almost a millennium to get them as big as they were, so I imagine it would probably take _significantly_ more energy to regenerate them even close to that size as opposed to a newborn's."

"Your logic isn't making me feel any better." Hinata had grumbled, and Yachi had laughed at the time… none of them had known that a month later— and almost four and a half years since he'd been grounded, he'd have new wings.

Someone drops beside her and she turns to find Akaashi. She blinks and reflexively takes the cup he holds out for her.

"Also per Kiyoko." He murmurs with a small smile. Her eyes drop to the cup to find a nice green tea that has a slightly altered scent and she finds Akaashi's eyes once more.

"She's drugging me, too?" She asks with a light smile and the owl's smirk widens.

"She said it was to take the edge off." He murmurs and she giggles slightly before taking a sip. The flavor is slightly skewed, but it is probably far better than Hinata's in any case. She looks up at the sky.

 _We did it._

The reality crashes across her shoulders and she's hit with a wave of fatigue as the tension in them unbinds. A lazy smile curls her mouth and she rests her chin on one hand, her mocha eyes finding the owl with curiosity as she remembers his contribution.

"What?" He asks, a brow rising inquisitively.

"Where did you learn about kratom and kava kava?" She asks curiously. It's not the owl beside her that answers, though.

"Well, at first, we were just after a way to get Lev talking easier because the other three are pretty tight lipped with most cat stuff… but it was like the knots thing. Akaashi finds plants and their uses fascinating." Bokuto says, dropping on her other side.

"I started looking more into it after _he_ went and impaled himself." Akaashi corrects and Yachi blinks before a peal of laughter echoes up and out her throat. As it dies, the smile lingers on her face as she glances at the smaller owl.

"Well, thank you. That would have been brutal without it."

Bokuto bumps her shoulder with his and she looks up at him. The streaked owl doesn't look at her, his golden gaze watching the horizon and his mouth pulled into a wistful smirk.

"You have it backward. You took a grounded avian and gave us back a whole one. A little naked, maybe, but whole. I don't think any of us will ever balk at being in your care and we're all grateful to you. _You_ deserve _our_ thanks, Yachi." Her eyes sting and she blinks them rapidly.

 _You guys are going to make me cry_ , she thinks.

" _I_ didn't' do anything, the leveler bond brought his wings back. I just put the stitches in—and as far as that goes, it was a group effort, you don't have to—"

"Kiyoko is making you some food since you probably haven't eaten since lunch. It will be ready whenever you are. You've more than earned it." Akaashi cuts her off with a light smile.

"Oh… I don't know if I'm hungry _quite_ yet." She says with a laugh. Long arms snake around her gut, and she lets out a yelp as she's promptly hauled up off the step and tossed over a shoulder.

"Not an option." Lev says in her ear. "Kiyoko made ramen and even a spicy side batch for Suga. She _also_ sent Noya into town for some fugashi." He remarks pointedly, knowing the bunting's weakness for the sweet.

She laughs lightly as the cat carries her back inside and into the kitchen, the glimpse she catches of Hinata and Kageyama on the way through nothing but precious. It's an image— brief and gone in a moment as she's pulled through the doorway— that she instantly knows will crystalize into her memory. Hinata is already sleeping, his new wings tucked up against his back across the wrappings, his leveler watching him tiredly with blatant adoration and awe. Yachi's smile grows sweet with the happiness that blooms in her chest at the sight as Lev deposits her in front of the female crow. Kiyoko's head tilts in that pretty way it does, her smile soft and proud, and the bunting's thoughts falter.

"You are amazing, Hitoka. I couldn't be more happy to be yours." She says softly and reaches out across the short distance between them. Yachi feels her cheeks pink as Kiyoko's hands clasp her face and draw her forward.

And when Shimizu's lips meet hers, the bunting's thoughts cease entirely, and she gives up all attempts to even try.

A/N: Well, here we are! It's been a LONG time coming. This one was another one of the very early chapters I finished. All the little notes about his development through each earlier chapter so you never forgot that they were there were maddening to try to remember to slip in all the time XD And from Yachi's POV! My brave little bunting does get to save the day this time ^.^

Woot! Only five chaps left... I set a demanding post schedule on this one and I'm actually relieved it's nearly finished XD Thank you all for taking the time to read and comment, you all make my day! Have a remarkable evening you guys!


	33. Year Four,85 1-1 Amelioration Aspriation

**YEAR FOUR.85 1/1 Amelioration & Aspiration**

You have escaped the cage, your wings stretched out. So fly. ~Rumi

Part of grief is the loss of innocence, the loss of the certainty that everything will always be as it has been. ~Tanya Lord

~Five Months Later, Early Spring~

 **Koutarou Bokuto** grins at the fiery little ball of a determined redhead as he catches his lip between his teeth in fierce concentration.

They are out on the beach half a league from home where a bend in the coastline sits perfectly for the wind to harshly batter the seaboard and crash against the weathered stone cliff face behind them with a constant velocity. This section of the sand is only available for a few scant hours before the sea swallows it back up as the tides reach again for the rocks, the water already coming back in.

It's brisk today, and Hinata should really probably have another layer on, but Koutarou doubts that he notices. Instead, he works beside him to beat his young black wings twice in tandem for every wave break of the surf near their feet.

Koutarou picked this place specifically for the wind, because it spurred a natural forward motion with the feel of the air rushing beneath their feathers. That, and when spread, they acted like a sail. If Hinata wanted to stay in one place and not be blown backward into the rocks, he had to either push himself forward with those limbs, or close them. And Hinata fiercely desired the sky, so Koutarou knew he'd never cave for the second option. He can't keep it up very long, but he's single mindedly focused, because he knows that Koutarou will cut him off once he falters.

They've come a long way in five months... but Hinata still can't fly.

Granted, they'd spent the first three after Yachi'd loosed his wings waiting for feathers to grow in— really, the kid had been freaking _ecstatic_ when he'd noticed the first one. It was winter, so instead of losing his mind outside, he'd bounced around the house chaotically, his mouth running nonstop the whole day. He'd been such a dynamic mass of energy that Tsukishima had headed into Sheru Bay to see Suga's relatives under the premise that he'd rather put up with _actual_ children over the small spiker.

But even if every tiny step forward had buoyed the redhead, all of those little marks of progress had each been their own battle starting from the moment his wings were freed.

It had taken him at least three days to actually stand without help. And as he'd started to test his movement— even just walking around— he'd pulled stitches… particularly on the side that had ruptured after his tumble in the sand. It couldn't really be helped as the torn edges of skin had been half ragged, the threads not holding that well, but he'd still been scolded by both Kiyoko and Daichi. Bokuto had been unable to help himself.

"Even I never pulled any of Yachi's stitches." He'd cajoled with a grin as the little blond bunting had reset yet another, and the redhead had leveled him with a sincerely unimpressed expression that would have almost been Tsukishima worthy.

"You didn't have even a tenth as many, either. I have two lines going from hip to shoulder. You had a pair of two inch holes."

But that had only been the first obstacle of a mountain of them— many of which he'd discovered simply upon becoming mobile once more.

His back, braced by the long bones of his developing wings to the point of seizing up his spine, had atrophied, all the muscles he hadn't been able to use for over four years pitifully weak. And while he wasn't carrying 'more' weight, the distribution was all wrong from what he'd grown used to. His center of gravity had changed now that his wings weren't compressed under his skin and were instead, trailing behind him once again.

It had quickly become apparent that flying wouldn't be the only thing Shouyou would have to relearn. His back muscles grew tired in short order just from walking around or even keeping himself upright for extended periods of time, and if he bent over, he was liable to topple and be unable to get back up without help because of the imbalance the new wings created— all things the rest of them took for granted and never would have even thought about. If he pushed himself, his quivering muscles would eventually give out and his balance and coordination would falter. More than once, Bokuto had turned around after a flurry of motion to find the kid on his hands and knees in surprise, or shakily climbing back to his feet while his leveler scowled darkly with concern right beside him.

And that wasn't even the half of it.

His back might have healed over quickly and cleanly under Yachi and Kiyoko's care— even with the pulled stitches and bruising— leaving behind two gnarly scars that ran parallel to his spine, but the wings were sorely undersized. They'd been forced into the cramped space of his back throughout their regeneration so they hadn't had the ability to get larger, and it would almost have been comical to see him for the first time if Koutarou hadn't known what he'd been through. Honestly, he'd looked like he had wings that would have fit his little sister, not an adult, but the Karasuno unit had assured them all that his wings had been every bit as large as theirs before losing them.

Apparently, the leveler bond agreed.

Hinata still glowed every night… but he rarely found sleep. The binding effect continued to ignite the glow in his wings as they'd settle in for the night, but he'd been racked almost every time by growing pains. Since Yachi had released them, his wingspan had widened over a foot before the first feather had even shown up. A foot in three months. It was no wonder the kid never slept. If Koutarou had to deal with his own leveler bond stretching his long bones like that every night, he doubts he'd find any either. And when Hinata didn't sleep, neither did Kageyama.

And in a bizarre development, it seemed they'd achieved a level of connection the likes of which even Yaku had never seen: they didn't even have to be asleep for it to activate. More than once, Koutarou'd seen them just chilling, the redhead curled up in his lap for a meal or fixing the Volley net, and the bald little wings would throw a faint glow. They'd been forced into crashing out separately during the day in order to escape the psychosis of sleep deprivation, because the leveler bond didn't care if it was dark or light; if they were together, it would initiate.

Between his lengthening wings and his weakened core muscles, Koutarou was sure the kid was in almost constant pain regardless of how he never complained. Yes, the first three months had been brutal. His burgeoning wings continue to gain size even now, and the last month has consisted of relearning to use them.

More feathers had quickly followed the first, nearly a full set filling in within a few weeks. And he'd been utterly impatient to get back into the air. The wings themselves seemed in perfect working order, all tendons and bones and tissues present and functional. His new set of feathers were mostly all in, so he had the means to generate the power to leave the ground— everything was fine except… Hinata was just failing.

"It's not that hard, idiot. Infants make the migration trip each year despite not being able to think rationally or even having teeth yet. You're being dense; avians are born knowing how to fly." Kageyama had said with frustration when they'd first started working at regaining flight. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, or the constant state of pain induced exhaustion, but the redhead had shot his leveler one of the most irritated glances Koutarou had seen since that big fight.

"Shut up moron. Next time, _you_ can be the one grounded for five years."

A few more volleying insults that had gained a sharper edge with every word, and no one had had to be told to act. Suga and Noya had both stepped in, splitting the two, Daichi and Lev there in case they'd been needed, and Koutarou had even caught Kuroo's ear fixed intently toward them as well; it may have been a few years since that scary fight, but Koutarou is convinced it could have been _centuries,_ and the rest of the beach crew would still remember it with crystalline clarity.

Conditioning and relearning flight had been handed off to himself and Daichi with occasional help from the thrush or Akaashi. Feathers had been restricted to watching his leveler's progress from the sidelines; an arrangement neither had protested much. It was for the best—the avian heir was exceptional at working through a new quick or helping fine tune a skill, but he didn't have the patience to teach something as simple as basic motor skills entirely from scratch.

Actually, it hadn't been that Hinata'd so much forgotten how as that he no longer had the body for it. Hinata intellectually _knew_ everything he needed to do to be able to fly, but infantile wings didn't always cooperate— hadn't been dialed in yet, so to speak.

His shoulders hadn't been put through the task of spurring wings to get him off the ground since he'd lost them, and no matter how much energy Shouyou might have had, it had all been conditioned to efficiency for his legs and feet. His new wings were considerably smaller than the ones he'd lost, and the tendons and muscles that controlled them had never seen movement before erupting from his back. They'd never been asked to work and, so the muscles that flexed them, while present, were virtually nonexistent and fatigued in no time flat.

It had turned out to be such a task, that Hinata'd been over the moon when he'd finally gotten them to beat in sync for more than a few wing strokes. Now, as he pushes his wings to their gradually increasing limit beside him, Koutarou keeps even pace with every stroke, his own bi-colored wings powerfully working through the motions.

The streaked owl still marvels at them—at the power of a leveler bond to be able to regrow entire new limbs. And… if he's honest, Koutarou frankly _adores_ the white ticking that peppers the underside of Hinata's new wings, because they've added yet another avian to the group that didn't have strictly black ones. He'd heard about Hinata's odd feathering pattern often enough, but seeing it where only six months ago he hadn't had wings to speak of was thrilling.

"Your left is slipping, Hinata." He says over the wind when he catches the way it doesn't extend completely.

When one side falters, that's when they fall out of sync, and that will spell disaster if he's in the air. If the redhead is aware of it he can try to correct it… and try he does. That left hits full extension once more, a frown of concentration creasing his face. The owl's grin widens and he glances over Hinata's head.

A little further down the beach, the bald crow works with Natsu. She has a full set of feathers once more and recently stopped glowing at night; the girl is also a prime candidate for learning to fly. She struggles nearly as much as Hinata, but it comes more from the fact that she's possibly _never_ flown and has no idea what is required let alone what it should feel like.

Tanaka has his hands full, because she's as easily distractible as Hinata and not nearly as motivated to return to the sky. Koutarou has a hunch that when Hinata finally starts leaving the ground, she'll follow not long after. The kid might not be very comfortable with it, but she will probably like being the only avian unable to fly even less; she has a rash of both stubbornness and pride in her just like her brother.

Asahi is here as well, his wing also back in working order. The large crow actually _is_ flying again, though, and is working on a strengthening drill with Noya where they trade off breaking headwind against the constant draft coming in off the ocean. And like Hinata and Kageyama, those two have made steady progress as levelers as well. Koutarou rarely sees one without the other anymore at all—though he imagines that a scare like they had with the earthquake and tsunami would likely make him as clingy with Akaashi, too.

"Son of a—" Hinata mutters and Koutarou looks back at him in time to see his wings fall out of sync, the fatigue compromising their movement. Koutarou reaches for him, but he isn't quite fast enough as the wind catches the feathers of one and flips him backward into the sand.

"You're giving up already?" He smirks.

This is the deal— when he drops from whatever conditioning exercise they're working on, he's done for the day. It's the imposed rule to make sure he doesn't strain himself and possibly get hurt; Koutarou and the others that work with him are there simply to ensure he puts on the brakes… and him losing control like this is the signal that they've hit that point. The redhead regularly tries to worm his way out of the restriction regardless, and when Hinata huffs and turns an annoyed glance at him, Koutarou is confident today will be no different.

"Shut up, Bokuto." He says, sitting up, but he doesn't get back up.

He stays there in the sand, eyes on the encroaching surf, while he works to catch his breath. Koutarou folds his wings and squats down beside him, a little surprised that he isn't on his feet again already like he always is.

"You did better than yesterday. Worlds better than last week." He says encouragingly. The redhead's brow furrows slightly.

"You know, you don't have to give up the time you normally use to spar just to work with me. It's important to keep your skills sharp. And I know you've skipped going to the docks a couple times, too." He says and there's a slight tiredness in his voice that makes Koutarou's golden eyes sharpen on him for a brief moment.

He glances over his shoulder up at the rocks where Kageyama sits with his elbows resting on his knees as he watches their conditioning session, Sugawara beside him. The quiet thrush had frequently taken to hanging with the avian heir through these workouts, and Koutarou is sure that he does it to keep the crow setter mellowed and _remaining_ on the sidelines. He half smiles at them to let Feathers know that everything is alright before turning back to the redhead beside him. Really, that crow cared so much about the small spiker that he could hover worse than a mom.

"True… I still have to be able to fight… but I think you regaining the sky is more important right now. I don't mind my skills dulling for a bit if I can help with that." He says with an easy smile that must be contagious because Hinata smiles slightly, too.

"Don't you get frustrated?" He asks with a breath of amusement through his nose as if he honestly can't believe Koutarou doesn't mind when he falters. The owl reminds himself that this kid was part of that group that grew up as sentries; failure wasn't tolerated well.

"Sure, but you're the one still stuck on the ground; it's got to be worlds worse for _you_. Besides, you make far better progress than your sister, at any rate. I don't envy Tanaka." He says with a chuckle and a nod to where Natsu has ceased all attempts at the workout. She has snagged one of the bald crow's flight feathers and squeals as he reaches for her with a black scowl.

Koutarou can sympathize with Tanaka; she'd been fascinated with he and Akaashi's facial feathers since day one, and she'd finally pulled one of his just last week. It might not have been a flight feather, but those small feathers that decorated his face were _sensitive_. Akaashi had found it unreasonably amusing and had even offered to let the kid snag one of his when Koutarou had gotten salty with him over the lack of sympathy. It had instantly turned his mood to alarm, because the streaked owl _loved_ running his fingers over those accenting feathers that did nothing but make Akaashi that much more pliant under his hands. They only added to the smaller owl's allure and to lose even one would have been a travesty in Koutarou's opinion.

"Heh. He has _no_ handle on her. Call Kageyama down here and that'll change." Hinata says wryly and Koutarou laughs.

"Well, they _are_ levelers." He murmurs and Hinata's face sours slightly.

"That's still really weird when I think about it." He grumbles.

"It was weird when I found out you and the crow were levelers." Koutarou challenges and Hinata cocks a brow at him.

"Why would _that_ be weird?" Koutarou looks away toward the surf that is nearly at their feet, knowing his face is softening a little.

"You mean besides you guys being polar opposites?" He asks half-jokingly before glancing out across the water, his expression sliding more serious. "'Weird' might be the wrong word. We are _owls_. It was bizarre, sure, but your trust was also humbling. I can't speak for Akaashi, but I never expected to have anything like this. I was raised to keep everyone at arm's length, to be detached and unfazed by others' hardships. And now I'm surrounded by people I'm closer to than my own blood family— even have a leveler of my own— and I have zero regrets. I treasure every day here, wish it could always be this way, with everyone happy and having fun.

"I'll protect and nurture that with my life if need be, because I never expected to care this much about other people. I want to help you because you belong in the sky. Your eyes have dreamt of it since I met you, and I'd like to see it happen." He says, his fondness for the kid beside him bleeding through his words. He glances at Hinata only to find large almond eyes fixed on him with awe, a wispy smile tipping his mouth.

And the only thing he can think is that _i_ _t's not the blinding one he used to wear all the time._

"You're pretty amazing, you know that?" He says, and glances down at his feet. A flash of grin like Koutarou frequently sees around Noya or Tanaka breaks his features more fully and his unease wanes just a touch. "But you might want to be careful how loud you say something like that. You'll take crap for being a sap around here— Tsukishima would never have let that go." Koutarou smirks.

"That's because he knows the feeling. He's actually a _lot_ more attached to everyone here than people realize."

The redhead snorts and turns a skeptical gaze back at him, an eyebrow creeping up his forehead despite the amusement in his almond orbs.

"Tsukishima? No way. Yamaguchi maybe, but I don't think he's _ever_ thought about us like that."

"Yamaguchi might always be his first priority, but it wasn't the freckled crow who was making two and three trips to the aviary every day while we waited for news on you guys."

" _Tsukishima_?" He repeats more emphatically, and Koutarou nods.

"Believe it. He was, like, ten times as scowly and his cheeky remarks were _brutal_. Next time we decide to split, I want to be in whatever group he _isn't_." Hinata laughs, his eyes crinkling around the edges and Koutarou smiles at getting a rewarding reaction.

"What, can't take the burn?" He asks and the streaked owl huffs through his nose, his grin going slightly predatory.

"Can't guarantee I won't deck him. Restraint ain't my forte." He murmurs wryly, and Hinata laughs again and climbs to his feet as Noya and Asahi drop down to the sand to meet Suga and Kageyama where they wait for them. Hinata stretches out his back with stiff movement, the muscles clearly overworked yet again.

"You should probably talk to Kiyoko for that tea. Akaashi can probably get you something stronger if you can't move in a couple hours." He says with a grin and Hinata flashes a devious smile at him that sets the feathers on the back of his neck a little on edge.

It's the look that usually precedes one of his and Noya's pranks— like he fully expects to get away with something. And before he can think, the redhead takes off toward Kageyama in a full sprint across the wet sand. Even running like this is still a challenge when he's tired and Koutarou's eyes crease slightly with concern as he starts after him.

And then the small spiker leaps, his wings unfurling to catch the bracing wind. The draft still comes in off the ocean where they are, and Feathers' and Suga's expressions widen at them from where they stand in the lee of a large rock sea stack. Koutarou isn't close enough to stop it, probably won't be able to catch him before the draft has a chance to grab his wings and catapult him back to the ground. Koutarou's gut tightens with worry.

Hinata's wings beat furiously as they catch the draft and he careens… but he isn't finished yet. They're not perfectly synced to control his motion the way they should be, but the one on the downwind side strains to correct his path. Through some miracle, he levels out, gains a few feet of altitude, his wings pushing air cleanly despite the disruption between the two. Koutarou blinks.

 _Hinata is flying_.

It doesn't last long— another four, five, six strokes, and the bracing wind catches him sleeping on the upwind side and knocks his wings further out of their flawed rhythm. And it's enough to make him lose control as his momentum rocks him forward. He plummets the five feet to the sand, the wet grains as hard as stone, and he lands with a heavy grunt; Koutarou feels his heart skip a beat as he catches up in a second.

"Hinata—"

The redhead bolts upright with a whoop, his voice carrying clearly across the beach to everyone else out here with them as Koutarou drops beside him.

 _Eh… well, that probably means he's okay, then,_ he muses wryly.

"Kageyama, did you see?! Kageyama, I flew!" He yells, a vibrating bundle of excitement as he gets back to his feet, his wings spastically flapping with his enthusiasm.

And as irritated as he is at the shrimp having gotten one over on him, Koutarou can't help but grin through the annoyance, because _that_ is a look he's missed lately. Catching up the redhead's shirt and hoisting him up off the ground before he has a chance to elude him again, he clears his throat.

"Flopped like a fish was more like it." He says as the redhead looks up at him sheepishly. "Daichi will have my neck if he finds out I'm letting you do more than we agreed to."

He knows he's failing to keep the smile off his face and be serious... because Hinata _had_ gotten off the ground, _had_ gone a good ten or fifteen meters without touching it again. It hadn't been pretty or graceful or coordinated by any stretch of the word, but… Hinata had flown.

Almost five years since he'd been grounded, his first flight, even if it only lasted moments, is enough to electrify them both, no matter how Koutarou tries to maintain an air of maturity and responsibility. Perhaps they can start working on guided flights soon, where they suspend Hinata underneath one of them with a rope as they fly so he starts getting the feel of it again. For now, though, he doesn't let the small spiker back to the ground, and instead turns and starts them toward Feathers and Sugawara again.

And almost drops the flailing redhead when he sees his leveler.

The crow setter had taken two steps toward them when Hinata had done his head dive, but he stands now with a small quiet smile and an open gaze that speaks of nothing but fond pride. Really, that grin could set anyone on edge except the beach crew, because they are the only ones who know that what spurs it into existence is anything but dark. That smile is strictly reserved for when he thinks or looks at his leveler… and the occasional rare moment in Volley— which usually also involved the redhead somehow.

That crow was hopelessly, stupidly, and irrevocably head over heels for the little redhead in his grasp. When Yachi'd finally finished freeing his wings, they'd been these new, bald, _alien_ looking limbs clasped against his back, and everyone had all stared in disturbed fascination. Feathers hadn't seen any of that, though, and had gathered the half-drugged redhead to himself with infinite care and gentle reverence. Despite their naked featherless state, Kageyama had only been able to stare in wonder at the fact that his leveler had sprouted complete, unblemished, and pristine wings.

Koutarou is pretty sure Kageyama didn't sleep at all that first night, he was so astounded that after more than four years, it was all happening now and it was _real_. He'd worn such a deep expression—like he'd always wished for this outcome, but had never dared to _hope_. The avian heir had smiled frequently since that night, because every small achievement was a step forward, and if Koutarou was sure of one thing, it was that Kageyama wanted to see his leveler truly free and happy once again more than anything else in this world.

Koutarou smiles slightly as he steps up to the crow setter and unceremoniously shoves Hinata toward his waiting hands.

"Control this." He says, passing the redhead off to Feathers by the collar of his shirt. "Or I will be bringing ropes next time. Akaashi _is_ my leveler." Noya laughs over Kageyama's shoulder and he's sure he hears a quiet titter from the thrush as well. The short crow straightens and looks around him.

"Hey, Tanaka, the point is to get her in the air, not ground _yourself_." He calls and Koutarou glances back at the bald crow and girl. She no longer has just one of his flight feathers, but _three_. Hinata snorts and the thrush grins before waving at them.

"Come on, you two. Yamaguchi will probably have dinner ready by now." Natsu screeches with excitement at the prospect of food and promptly drops Tanaka's feathers and heads their way, the bald crow following after her with a fierce grumble.

Koutarou grins as they all head back toward the beach house, secretly elated at the redhead's spark of deviant enthusiasm.

He understands now why he was brought up to be distant, but he can't identify with it. He can see how emotional investment makes him vulnerable, but he doesn't care. His life has more than one defining point now.

The first was when he met Akaashi. The other owl really was his heart and soul, and Koutarou'd follow him to hell if he so got the itch. The smaller, beautiful owl was probably the _only_ thing that could make him walk away from everything the second focal point had sparked. Meeting Akaashi led to stumbling upon the beach crew.

Meeting the redhead beside him… had opened the world up for the streaked owl. He's never felt like he's belonged anywhere more. Even Sheru Bay is nothing but welcoming of them, a pair of owls, the residents having grown accustomed to seeing them on the docks, and after helping the town rebuild after the quake and tsunami, they're amenable, even friendly toward them.

And his heart breaks at the knowledge that the redhead beside him isn't the same person he'd first met that hot summer day.

Hinata is still very much Hinata, but he is more thoughtful, perhaps a bit quieter and more serious, and he's far more aware of himself and those around him. He's no longer the oblivious ball of sunshine he was; he's more like the scalding high noon burn or sometimes a warm sunset instead of the brilliant morning sunrise herald Koutarou remembers.

And that makes him heartsore, because he doesn't know if the Hinata of _now_ would have made the same choices as the Hinata of _then_. If he and Akaashi had shown up on their doorstep tomorrow instead of almost five years ago, would the redhead be as quick to sideline the others' concerns and welcome them like he had back then?

Koutarou can't help but wish their places had been exchanged so that he could have killed in the redhead's place. He'd been conditioned for it, after all, had nearly followed through at least once, it shouldn't have been that hard for someone like him. He couldn't kill without reason, but killing so that someone he loves didn't have to— he imagines that is probably about the best one he could have. Maybe he's wrong and he'd still have hesitated, but if he'd have been the one to take a life, Hinata's pure and open disposition might have been preserved, untainted by the memory of what it meant to end another's existence.

Koutarou knows the past is set in stone, and the redhead will probably never go back to what he was, and the world is ever changing even now, but… even if it's just a little, he hopes that regaining the sky will help Hinata remember who he is.

A/N: Woot! Bokuto chapter! I really feel like Hinata's change in personality would hit Bokuto one of the hardest. And Hinata flies! and Kageyama melts b/c I adore Kagehina fluff even if I'm not that great at generating it, and Natsu has totally turned into this devious little child. Also, another one with two quotes at the beginning b/c Nyx is indecisive as fuck.

So, yeah... the next chap isn't quite finished, but I will try to have it up tomorrow yet (Apologies if I don't succeed; I made it last time, so cross your fingers I do again lol). Have a brilliant evening you guys!


	34. Year Five,25 1-3 Resolve & Potential

**YEAR FIVE.25 1/3 Resolve & Potential**

It is in my nature to be kind, gentle, and loving, but know this: when it comes to matters of protecting my friends, my family, and my heart, _do not_ trifle with me, for I am also the most powerful and relentless creature you will ever know. ~Anonymous

~Five Months Later, High Summer~

 **Tobio Kageyama** lands lightly in the middle of the main road running through a small town, his leveler dropping beside him a little less gracefully. Lev appears out of nowhere with a grin, Yaku at his elbow.

"That was the longest flight so far." The tall cat says, his green eyes bright as they are joined by the owls, Noya, Asahi, Yamaguchi, and Tsukishima. This is the first trip they've taken away from home since last fall… since Hinata's wings ruptured into existence. Everyone had been going a little stir crazy over winter and spring, and it is probably well overdue now that they've hit _summer_ and they'd had yet to take one.

The jaunt hadn't been entirely welcomed by everyone; Yachi had worried constantly the last couple days, and had extracted any number of promises from all of them that if Hinata was getting tired, that they'd stop. She'd insisted that he not be allowed to push himself too hard, and that they rest if he was having a hard time. Kuroo had forced them to plot out a course this time and then secured a commitment to send ravens every other day to let everyone back home know they were still okay, much to the cynical annoyance of Tsukishima. Daichi had told them not to do anything stupid, and Suga had sent along a few extra coins in case they hit a bind somewhere. The only one who'd seemed at ease with letting them go was Kenma. The golden cat had smiled happily with a small wave as they'd taken off right after Tanaka had told them they'd all better come back in one piece.

Natsu, on the other hand, hadn't been happy about being left behind at all. And since Natsu wouldn't be allowed, the bald crow had remained behind as well; when the girl would wake in the dark with panic because she was positive the snakes were coming for her, he was the only one who could reach her.

"I go, too." Tanaka had shaken his head at her even though he'd been put out about being stuck back home, too.

"You wouldn't be able to keep up, Munchkin. I told you this would happen if you didn't do those conditioning drills. Besides, you have lessons with Taji and his sister. You prove you can stay airborne for three hours, _and_ pass your tests, and maybe you can go next time."

Yeah, that had gone over well. The girl had settled into a perpetual sulk before they'd left. Coercing Natsu had been necessary, though. She could fly now, but she'd opt to walk over taking to the sky if given the choice, so she lagged heavily in her flight skills.

And it had been disappointing to discover that she could neither read nor write. She'd never been given any type of schooling during her time with the snakes, so they'd promptly set her up to learn not only written skill, but also a verbal regimen alongside Suga's young cousins. They had no problem with she and Hinata conversing in their 'island babble', but for Natsu to be able to succeed in the world around them, she would have to be able to read, write and speak the crow lexicon like her brother. Hinata draws in a large breath and looks up at the grey cat with a grin.

"You guys are good rabbits! We almost lost you twice!" Hinata says with a laugh. Kageyama smiles slightly.

The trip isn't just to restore Shouyou's sanity and craving for adventure and human interaction. It's also to build his strength and condition his wings, to actually field test them and put them under stress. It is to push them without breaking them, to increase his stamina and control, to restore the redhead to his pre-grounded state.

'Catch the rabbit' was one of their drills that they'd been doing as they moved from town to town. A modified game of tag or hide and seek, the cats would zip along in an unpredictable and often chaotic pattern across the forest floors, the airborne group working to keep tabs on them. It was actually eye opening to see what they were _truly_ capable of physically. They could really stretch out, their movements fluid and sleek, until Kageyama and the others would be pushing their upper limits on speed. They could stop and turn on a dime, something that really forced any of them with wings to use every muscle and skill to keep up with their switchbacks and banks. When the cover grew thick, they'd slow and test the avians' eyes and see if they could keep track of them in the heavy undergrowth.

And, skies, could they _leap_. Just the other day, they'd been pushing along at a clip and Kageyama had seen Lev clear a fifty-foot river in a single bound with ease. It had immediately dispelled his misconception that the river had stopped Kuroo when he and Shouyou had been headed back to the rookery after Hinata's grounding; he'd never underestimate their abilities in that department again.

"You look a little pale, Hinata. You pushed too hard, didn't you?" Yaku asks with a frown. Hinata beams at him, the smile a little too tight.

"Not at all! I could go all day!"

"Uh, huh," the small cat says skeptically before turning to Kageyama, "We should probably stop for today."

"We don't have to!" Hinata says hurriedly, but Kageyama is already nodding.

"Take Noya or Bokuto or someone and go find some lunch." He says and the redhead stops dead and turns to him questioningly.

"Where are _you_ going?" The avian heir turns a bland look on him.

"Find some gingko leaves." He says flatly, and Shouyou's face scrunches into a scowl.

"They don't hurt that bad, Kageyama. Really." An eyebrow creeps up Kageyama's forehead.

The crow setter raises one hand and drives an index finger into the muscle on his shoulder. Hinata almost drops to get away from it and Kageyama gives him a pointed look. His face puffs into a sullen pout and the avian heir suffocates his amusement.

"I'll join you. I intend to get some basil, because you guys are all weird and can eat tasteless food twenty-four-seven." Yaku says.

"That's because you ate salt for decades at sea. You don't have any taste buds _left_." Noya says with a grin and Lev turns to the small cat.

"Is _that_ why you're so short?" He asks. Hinata snorts right alongside Noya and Bokuto, and even Kageyama can't keep the smirk off his face. He's quite sure the lanky cat will _never_ learn.

"You aren't getting laid for a week, Haiba." The short cat deadpans, and Noya bursts out laughing.

Kageyama's smile threatens to split his face as his leveler and the streaked owl quickly follow suit. Yamaguchi can't keep his own down and even Akaashi's mouth quirks. The only ones apparently _not_ amused are the large bearded crow who just looks scandalized and Tsukishima who watches them with a very 'I have never met any of you, don't ever speak to me' look. Still, Kageyama can feel his ears burn just a bit; he still colors at vulgar comments from his companions, but he's gotten far more used to them— unlike Noya's leveler.

"Yaku!" Asahi protests and Bokuto waves him off.

"What's the matter? Natsu's not around right now so he doesn't need to mind his mouth. It can run all he likes; when they start gettin' friendly is when it'll be a problem. Let's find some food before Yaku goes back on that threat in broad daylight, Hinata." The streaked owl says throwing his arm over Shouyou's shoulder.

"Akaashi, control your idiot before I drop kick him." Yaku growls.

"That would be a wasted effort. The first and last time I tried that, I told him to get lost— you can see how well that went." The smaller owl says with a quiet smile before drifting toward Kageyama. "Bo, I'm going to head over with these guys. They find a shop that carries gingko, they probably have a decent tea, too."

"Maybe I could look for kukicha!" Yamaguchi says hopefully.

"Then I guess it's up to us to get the food. Anyone not with us doesn't get to complain about what we bring back." Noya says, waving at them as he turns with Shouyou and Bokuto to head down the street, Asahi trailing after them like a child's kite.

Kageyama feels that small pull in his gut that he always gets whenever he's left watching Hinata walk away from him. He intrinsically _knows_ his leveler will always come back to him, but it doesn't make it any easier to let him wander around without him; he mentally thanks the streaked owl and large crow for accompanying the two short avians, because they are each imposing enough to be a large deterrent to anyone who might want to mess with them.

That small smile stays fixed at the corner of his mouth as he watches them start away, his leveler already arguing animatedly with Noya and Bokuto about what they should have for dinner. He's enthusiastically invested enough in their meal prospects that his face lights up and his wings twitch with anticipation. Kageyama knows that whenever Hinata is around, he's as easily distracted as the smaller boy himself… and right now, he _should_ be looking for a place that sells ginkgo, but his gaze lingers on his leveler a few more moments.

Hinata without wings would never have been normal, but Kageyama has yet to get entirely used to them being back; it is still incredible to him that Shouyou is flying once again. Hinata's perfect, white ticked black wings have gained over another foot in spread since that day he'd taken his first clumsy flight again in almost five years. They continue to stretch, and Kageyama knows it's painful even if he never says a word.

Kageyama estimates that he probably has maybe another foot yet to go before they are back to the size they were before he'd lost them, and he still glows every chance the stupid bond gets. They have to be careful anytime they aren't at the beach house, and they still can't find sleep together. It has been particularly frustrating on this trip, and nearly everyone has had to remind them about it when one of them would subconsciously gravitate toward the other.

But… Kageyama would go through it all a hundred times over again just to see Hinata smile so freely like he is now. It's an expression they've rarely seen in the last two years, and one that has slowly been making a comeback. Kageyama can see the way the others brighten in subconscious response, especially the streaked owl.

Kageyama knows Bokuto has been fixated on Hinata, trying with all his might to bring back that obliviously sunny insanity that had perpetually fueled the redhead when they'd first met the owls. He knows that's the reason the streaked owl had been one of the first to step up to help him train in his new wings. He knows the larger man has acutely felt the difference in Shouyou since their run in with the snake nest… because Shouyou _is_ different.

But Bokuto is wrong about two things.

Bokuto thinks that he's mellowed because he'd had to take a life… but that's not right. Kageyama had actually asked him about it once because it had bothered him, too, and Hinata had looked at him with surprise.

"That's not it at all, moron." He'd said frankly and Kageyama had frowned with confusion.

"But the nightmares since then—"

"They always end when you or Suga or Natsu or somebody dies. Kageyama… killing someone wasn't the nightmare, it was being unable to save someone."

"Then—"

"It's because we went after my sister in the first place. I barely remember her from before I came to the rookery. When we ran into her, I had no idea what she'd been through, hadn't even realized she'd survived. I do wish I never had to take lives, and I hate that I'm the reason that someone will never come home. But I don't regret it because Natsu wouldn't have been safe otherwise.

"What frightens me is that I readily placed _all_ of our lives on the line for someone I didn't even _know_. She _could_ have been a plant and it wouldn't have mattered because I'd have still tried to get her out. And that choice... we could have all died and we _did_ nearly lose Sugawara and Sawamura. Two people to save one isn't an even exchange. And I know it's two for two in retrospect, but at the time, none of us knew she and Tanaka were levelers. It was an impossible call, because she's my _sister_ no matter how much a stranger she might have been, and I know things all turned out fine, but Suga and Daichi… Kageyama, I gambled their lives— all of ours really— to try and save someone I couldn't have told you the first thing about.

"And it's scary because if we _had_ lost them… I'm not sure I'd have ever been able to look at Natsu the same, knowing that she lived free by their sacrifice. I'm scared to death that I'd have held that against her, because you and everyone from Karasuno, the cats and owls and girls, and even Tsukki and Yamaguchi— they're family, and I love them all. I'm not willing to trade any of their lives for anything, and yet… I nearly did. And I did it with ease, no hesitation. I never thought I'd be someone who could do something like that."

Kageyama had been quietly stunned that Hinata didn't agonize over having killed snakes, but rather the illusion that he'd made the choice to endanger the others for the chance to save Natsu. Hinata was wrong about that notion, because they'd all made the choice to go after his sister, not just him, but it had tormented him all the same. And Bokuto never failed to pick up on that.

But he's been trying to restore the redhead's buoyancy in the wake of that emotional turmoil all along when it's never really been gone. Hinata is still Hinata, and that brilliant shining happiness that he'd always radiated… it's still there— it's just tempered by a brush with harsh reality now. It might not be as obnoxious as it was before, but it's far from gone.

He still gets ridiculously excited about the littlest things and he'll still exclaim over Yachi and Shimizu's meals. He still loses his mind when he gets one of their freaky fast hits off in Volley. He still avidly participates in pranks with Noya and Tanaka, and he still smirks right next to them through the rebukes from Daichi or Kuroo.

The difference is that Shouyou doesn't miss much _at all_ anymore; it's not just Kageyama— he's far more attuned to those around him than he ever was growing up, and it's made him a little more quiet. But that brilliance that has always been his trademark is still there, and Kageyama can see it even now.

"You look like a lovesick idiot."

Kageyama blinks and turns a nonplussed look on the ibis as Yamaguchi stifles a chuckle, but he has no comeback. The blond has always been quicker on the uptake, his barbs always sharp and on point. Kageyama has never been able to rattle off insults as well or fast, but for once, it isn't his leveler rising in his defense.

"Better lovesick than love starved." Yaku mutters pointedly and a smirk tips the avian heir's mouth as Tsukishima rolls his eyes. The cat doesn't even give the ibis a chance to respond and ignores Yamaguchi's indignant squawk before he's wandering off in search of a place that will carry his basil, and Kageyama drifts after him without conscious effort.

"Speaking about a lovesick moron, you missed it Yaku. You should have been awake after we found you and Lev after the wave. He wouldn't let you go even to let Suga put his entrails back inside him." Akaashi says with a smile and Kageyama huffs through his nose, because the lanky cat hadn't released the russet one beside him for close to two days.

"No one ever said he was intelligent." Yaku remarks flatly.

"That was mean Mori. You told me just the other day I was a genius—"

"Shut up, Lev." The small cat snaps, taking a page from the blond he's just shut down.

Akaashi laughs easily and Lev's own mouth pulls into a covert smile. Kageyama has the distinct impression that the lanky cat knows _exactly_ what he's doing every time he opens his mouth, and that Akaashi is _far_ too comfortable with this conversation, because his own face is already burning.

"Mori, what about—"

"I will end you, you mangy mongrel feline."

They follow the russet cat inside a small shop, Lev still pushing his buttons and Yaku slowly developing the twitch over his eyebrow that signals a swift kick isn't long in coming. Which will soon be followed by a suspicious absence. Kageyama wonders if he should have stuck with his leveler instead of Yaku and his exhibitionist other half.

He has zero desire to ever be privy to their activities again, he's already had one front row seat, thanks. Seriously, he can totally sympathize with the expressionless look of distaste on Tsukishima's face… and isn't _that_ bizarre. He and the ibis agreeing on something is like spotting a unicorn— it doesn't happen. Resigning himself to the coming mortification, he heads for the counter where an older man he assumes is the store's proprietor stands.

"Do you have ginkgo leaves? Also, opium lettuce?" He asks and the shopkeeper glances at him curiously.

"We carry both, but I wouldn't recommend them used together. They can have… unintended effects." He says.

"That's fine."

"Are you looking to trip your shrimp out or something? You're far more depraved than I thought." Tsukishima says from behind him and Kageyama's face drops into a glare.

"They aren't both for him, you degenerate. He isn't the only one who's frequently fielding pain. Natsu hates the taste of ginkgo, but she took to the opium lettuce much better." He says, tossing an annoyed glance back at him.

"Oh, that's right!" Yamaguchi says with a smile. "She was more willing to do flight drills when she got a good night's sleep and wasn't in as much pain."

Natsu might have had wings the entire time where Shouyou had lost them, but she'd never used them. At least Hinata's back muscles had had the muscle memory yet; she was starting from scratch and probably frequently in as much pain as his leveler. But where Shouyou would never complain as their rigid military upbringing had demanded, it was easy to tell when Natsu was hurting because she'd get cranky and Tanaka would in turn get surly.

"It's tougher to come by around Sheru Bay, so I'm going to bring some back now." He says as the door opens behind him.

"Will that be all then, Sir?" The shopkeeper asks.

"For me. The others might need time yet." He answers.

"Tobio?"

Kageyama mentally stumbles, his mind half-shutting down on him.

 _Tobio?_

He blinks slowly, wondering if he's just hearing things, because he hasn't heard that voice in over five years. His cobalt eyes find the russet cat five steps away by the dried herbs, his brow pulling down into a frown.

 _There's no way he actually heard that. He's going to have to start taking some valerian like they give Natsu for sleep at night if he keeps hallucinating crap like this._

But the small feline is watching him sharply from the corner of his eye, a question in his expression, and Kageyama's thoughts finally starts clicking again.

"Tobio Kageyama." The call comes again, more certain, and his spine stiffens.

He _hasn't_ heard that voice in five years… and he can't tell himself that he isn't hearing it now, because he will _never_ forget who it belongs to.

His mind kicks into gear, mentally tabulating where everyone is at. The two cats, Akaashi, Tsukishima, and Yamaguchi are all here with him… which leaves only Bokuto, Noya, and Asahi with Hinata. His gaze finds Yamaguchi over the russet cat's head, his hazel eyes also staring back. The ibis beside him is still fixed straight ahead at the shelves of herbs, but his jaw is a rigid outline, a dead giveaway that he's hyper aware of his surroundings. He can't find Akaashi or Lev over his other shoulder without being obvious about it, and he feels a muscle beside his eye leap. The freckled crow's mouth clicks shut, and he turns with a bow to the shopkeeper before heading for the door, Kageyama's unspoken request loud and clear: Find Hinata and the others.

They aren't prepared for this, how are they going to get out of it? Their first trip back out this year, their first since Hinata's wings have returned, and they just _had_ to run up against this. They're scattered and out of combat practice, tired after a day of travel. Is there even a possibility at this point of them all escaping? Is there any chance they all come out of this alive?

Slowly, he turns to the doorway, his cobalt eyes finding the Grand King exactly where he knows he will, Iwaizumi just behind him. The rookery leader stands just inside, his face slack and eyes large as Yamaguchi slips past him and Iwaizumi. There are a few more worry lines in his face now and Kageyama might be mistaken, but he thinks he sees a few strands of gray in his wavy brown hair. He still looks the picture of health and poise, but… Daichi was right. He looks older somehow to the avian heir. The crow over his shoulder shares his expression and Kageyama's gaze skips over him with a single cursory glance of accusation.

 _What the hell, Iwa. We had a deal._

"Good Afternoon, Grand King." He says automatically.

He can't explain his need to draw their attention from the others in the room. Hinata might not be here, but he wouldn't be the only one in danger right now. Memories of Kuroo's threats on account of having lost friends and family alike to Kageyama's father make him want to do everything he can to keep the two cats in the room nothing more than background scenery. And the extra feathers that decorate Akaashi's face mark him as an owl… if he can be kept unnoticed as well, that would be ideal.

"You are alive." The Grand King says with marked amazement, and Kageyama tenses as Tooru takes a step forward. The others near him shift, and to keep the focus on himself, he also steps toward the rookery leader.

"Last time I checked, sir."

"All this time, you've been _here_ , Tobio?" Kageyama's chin lifts, a spark of irritation slipping through his tension.

"No, first time. And I wouldn't have even been _here_ if I'd known you were coming, Father. My source obviously dropped the ball this time."

He doesn't look away from Tooru, but he catches Iwaizumi's abrupt tension. He also catches the slight jerk Yaku does and prays that they all just stay silent.

 _If the Grand King doesn't realize they are connected to Kageyama, they might be able to escape this confrontation— because he's certain this will resolve in no other way. All he needs to do is keep Tooru's attention on him._

His father will never let him just leave, he's more than positive. They can't flee by air; the Grand King can simply follow. They can't go back home in case the rookery leader sets a tail on them. Even given the severely strained relationship between himself and his father, Kageyama is sure he'd never be able to kill him. Doing so would start a relentless hunt regardless, and none of them will be safe; their best option would be to somehow incapacitate Tooru and Iwaizumi— which shouldn't be that difficult if they all act, but he doubts they are here alone.

He doesn't remember a time where his father had left the rookery without a contingent of _at least_ three units always with him, so he's fully banking that there are others in the near vicinity. Which makes this tricky: they aren't going to be up against some half-trained gutter snakes who don't know the first thing about battle efficiency and technique, these are all sentries who've had the exact same training they did. These people will be conditioned daily through all those drills, will probably have the upper hand because of that; the last time he'd sparred with the others was over a week ago and their skills won't be as sharp. The Grand King's head tilts with a slight frown despite the smirk that twists his mouth.

"You wear the same face… but I hardly recognize you, Tobio. Your voice and expressions— you don't even carry yourself the same. You've… grown up almost overnight. I'm disappointed to have missed it." He says, and by the time he's finished, that mask of a smile that Kageyama remembers so well has returned, all trace of his surprise vanished once more.

"Where have you been all this time, Tobio?"

"Wherever you are not." He says bluntly and his father's gaze fractures but that smile doesn't waver.

"That's awfully harsh, Tobio. And Shrimpy? Is he still alive, too?" He asks with that fabricated cheer that used to infuriate Kageyama.

"He is… but I doubt you really care about that. I have no desire to discuss him with you in any case." The Grand King blinks at him with a shadow of surprise once more.

"To the contrary, Tobio, he is the reason you left; is it so hard to think I'd have an interest in his well-being?" Kageyama feels his eye twitch at the way he phrases it, as if it _does_ matter to him.

"I imagine his getting iced somewhere along the line would be ideal for you, wouldn't it?" He says before he can stop himself, unable to keep the bite from his voice. The Grand King glances back at Iwaizumi with a crease of… discomfort? But Kageyama can't decipher the look before it's sliding back under a layer of incincerity.

"Tobio, that's not—"

"I'm not coming back." He cuts him off, and Tooru's jaw hangs for a moment before it closes with a tight smile.

"You've definitely grown into your own person. The rookery could use you. You _should_ return, Tobio." Kageyama's brow cocks, knowing already where this conversation is headed, knowing the Grand King will try and strong arm him into doing as the rookery leader deems. That can't happen. He will not fall prey to his father's manipulation.

"How many men did you bring, Sir?" He says more than asks and Tooru's brows crease in puzzlement.

"I'm here with Iwa's unit. Probably ten of us or so." Kageyama blinks, struggling to keep his surprise off his face.

 _That's it? It might be possible to escape then. Provided his father isn't lying._

Iwaizumi's been unusually quiet through the entire exchange, his sharp eyes flickering between himself and the others, and it makes Kageyama wonder if the sentry leader _hadn't_ , in fact, foreseen this encounter. And when his dark eyes settle on him with a firm set to his jaw—unease, Kageyama banks that his father is telling the truth. One sentry unit; ten people. He settles back, sets his feet, his chin lifting just a touch. He knows there will be no doubt on where he stands with his next words.

"That's not nearly enough."

His father stares at him in bafflement, clearly unused to him pushing back. But his face quickly slips into a surprisingly real grin, and Kageyama realizes that Tooru's taken it as a challenge. The flash of joyful rally in his gaze sets Kageyama on edge, because he's never won a debate or argument with this man. But he's also calm; the rookery leader has nothing to coerce him with this time— all the people he could have used are no longer under his control.

"For what? Bringing you back? You are one crow; you yourself might be strong, but eight or even six will be far stronger." The Grand King says with a smirk. Iwaizumi shifts behind him and his attempt to intervene cements Kageyama's gut feeling that the sentry leader hadn't banked on this encounter either.

"Sir, we should maybe—"

"I don't think he realizes he's surrounded, Feathers." Yaku says and the room stills.

The Grand King's eyes flicker and they slowly drift to the russet feline. The avian heir can see an entire monologue of thoughts flipping through his orbs despite the neutral expression that takes over his face. Behind him, he can see Iwaizumi's breath still, the muscle in his arms go taught. Kageyama wants to smack the cat, because he's just undone any invisibility Kageyama'd bought the others by engaging in this verbal spar with his father.

Well, there's no helping it now.

"...Obviously." He drawls, hoping there's a way to salvage this situation. The Grand King glances at Iwaizumi for only a moment and looks back at him, his expression closed off.

"Tobio… that's a cat." He says matter of factly, and one of Kageyama's brows arches.

"Is it?" He asks, the sarcasm in his voice almost Tsukishima worthy.

"What are you doing with a cat?" Tooru asks, his entire face smoothing into bafflement. Kageyama almost smirks.

"Living." He distractedly hopes the ibis is paying attention, because he feels like he's on a roll at the moment.

"Sir." Iwaizumi tries once again to intervene, but Tooru's gaze skips around to the other faces in the room that all now watch him. He sees the ibis, his flat look as unimpressed as ever, notices Lev in all his lanky graceless glory, and he lingers on Akaashi, Kageyama certain he doesn't miss the decorative feathers.

"… and these others?" He asks, a note of incredulity sliding into his voice. Kageyama's head tilts.

"The same."

"We're _all_ on his side. And this isn't even everyone." Lev supplies with a cheeky grin and once more, Kageyama wants to facepalm, because the tall cat is giving away information that is probably best kept under wraps.

"Really Tobio? Cats and _owls_ and…" the Grand King trails away as he focuses on the ibis with scrutiny, "a gull?"

"Try again." Tsukishima mutters, and Kageyama's mouth almost quirks. Most people treated the Grand King with extensive respect; he's probably been subject to more scalding sarcasm in the last two minutes than the entirety of the last six months.

"You _trust_ these people?" Tooru asks and Kageyama deadpans.

"They've had my back time and again where sentries and a rookery leader failed." He says defensively, and Tooru's eyes find him once more, a slight frown creasing his face.

"You don't have to live like this, you can come home." He says and Kageyama scoffs quietly.

Did the Grand King honestly think he hadn't had a _choice_ in all this? Did he think he stayed with cats and owls and songbirds against his will? Did he think he was here by any other means than under his own power? And did he that actually _bothered_ him?

"The reason I left would still be there." He says evenly and Tooru's face creases again, and Kageyama gets the distinct impression of pain at the words. It makes him blink in surprise, because it's something he's _never_ seen from his father unless his mother had been mentioned.

"You can do whatever you want, Tobio. Live in the private sector as a civilian for all I care, but come back." Tooru says lightly, contradicting the deep look the line between his eyes gives him.

Kageyama bridles at the order cloaked in the guise of a peaceful request.

"Not a chance." He says, his response quick and sure and his father blinks.

"Why ever not? You don't have to be a sentry, you can do whatever you want." He says again, a note of sincere confusion sliding into the repeated proposition. Kageyama shakes his head slightly. Pity slips into his gut and he curses his flux of compassion towards his father's ignorance.

"Why?" He says softly, positive he's going to regret his next words. "You'd have killed my leveler."

Silence. The Grand King and Iwaizumi stare at him and he stares back. He catches the look his companions cast at him, the glances of covert alarm.

 _What are you doing, Feathers?_

He can almost hear their panic, but he knows how his father will react.

"Your… your leveler, Tobio? Those were stories we tell kids. Don't tell me you believe them?"

Of course, he wouldn't know what it was to have a leveler. He might have loved her, but his mother had died and his father had remained; they hadn't been levelers. His father has never felt the burn of a breaking fight or the quiet content of a binding heal. He hasn't known the fear of dying because it will kill his other half. He hasn't watched another at death's door knowing that it won't be one person they bury, but two if they don't pull through.

"Stories. Stories… the only reason I would ever return to the rookery would be to visit Mother's tree and tell her of everything that's happened. I'd apologize for how I've missed the last five years and make her a promise to try to return sooner… but I'd never guarantee it." His father's face fractures, the mask completely cracking away. And in that moment, there's nothing but pain and sorrow.

"Tobio—"

The door bangs open and Kageyama wants to curse every deity when he sees who comes through it.

"Kageyama, I'm pretty sure I saw sentries, we should probably—" Shouyou breaks off as he finds the Grand King and Iwaizumi, his almond eyes blowing wide as the others crowd in after him.

" _Shit_." Noya spits, automatically grabbing and shoving the redhead behind himself.

The Grand King's eyes have already found them, though, Iwa's not a moment behind. Kageyama had never intended for them to meet again, never intended that they even had a chance to see one another. But they stare at each other now, Hinata's gaze solid and flat, the rookery leader's wide eyes taking him in from head to toe, from limb to _wing_ , and Kageyama knows he's overwhelmed. But Hinata is calm.

"Grand King." He says with a formal nod, centuries as a sentry demanding the acknowledgement without conscious thought.

"Sh… Shrimpy?" He says, his voice half shelled. "You… your wings— how— "

"They're just stories, right Father?" Kageyama says, recalling Tooru's attention. His brown eyes snap back to him, stunned at a reality he's being forced to acknowledge.

"They were Mother's legacy. You can drag me back any number of times, but the only way you'll succeed in keeping me there is to chain me to the garrison floor. And if you so much as _try_ to force me through him, I promise you, I will destroy the very empire you and Mother worked so hard to build. I am compromised, and I cannot lead, Father; find someone else."

Tooru's eyes flicker between himself and Shouyou, skips over the others around them, back to himself and his leveler before settling once more on him.

"Fine, Tobio. I won't ask you to bear that responsibility again. But you can come home. You _and_ Hinata. They all can." He says in an oddly strained voice while gesturing to Noya and Asahi, and Kageyama sighs lightly.

"That can't happen. What message would it send to both your allies and enemies that you've welcomed back an heir and his unit after desertion? You would have an uprising. I knew the consequences when I left, and I know you do, too." He says, and starts toward Hinata.

"So what happens now, Tobio?" Tooru's voice is plaintive and he can't decide how much of it is sincere. He straightens and glances back at the Grand King.

"Ideally? You return to the rookery safe in the knowledge that I'm alive, and I return back home with my leveler and companions unhindered and unsupervised." He says and the Grand King's head tilts.

"You expect me to go along with that?" He asks and Kageyama hates the half-strangled sound of his voice. It's a sound he's almost never heard from his father, and it infuriates him that Tooru is using it now. Does he think he will be moved just because he's slightly altered his tactics?

"I do, because if you don't, we will slip through your hands once more and you _won't_ see us again. I'd rather not since we are comfortable and safe where we live, but we are prepared to do whatever it takes to guard our lives." He murmurs, turning away from him, his gaze finding Shouyou's wide-eyed almond one like a lifeline. It's a threat that could make his father act to prevent their escape and throw them into a physical confrontation as much as force his father to back off. But Tooru does neither.

"I've only just found you again."

Kageyama curses his feet for pausing. He hates feeling like the Grand King is prodding at his resolve with that voice and those words, and he can't stand the idea of being manipulated anymore when his entire future stands by the door flanked by crows and an owl. He will not bend and endanger him again.

"That should put your mind at ease, then." He says evenly.

"He's kind of right, Feathers." Lev interjects and Kageyama turns a furious scowl on the lanky cat. He's not the only one either… the rest of them turn incredulous glances toward the grey feline, the least of which would be his father's.

 _What in all flaming feathered hell was going through his head? Did he somehow_ miss _the part about this being his father? The man they've been hiding from for five years? The entity who'd have had Shouyou killed?_

But Lev's green eyes crackle with perceptive intent that makes his feathers stand on end. His eyes hold that glint that makes him think the cat is actually two steps ahead and knows _precisely_ what he's doing.

"It's been five years, Feathers, let him have more than five minutes. Give him a chance to see that you really are okay and content." The grey cat says and Kageyama can't keep himself from glaring with massive irritation. But he has to keep his control. His father is a master at exploiting weakness and to lose his temper would be an excellent opportunity the Grand King could capitalize on.

"What exactly did you have in mind, Lev? Do you propose we sit and drink tea over biscuits? I think you have the wrong impression of the kind of relationship he and I share." Kageyama growls but the grey cat's bright green eyes flash with devious triumph.

"How about Volley? There was a net on the edge of town—we could have a friendly match." He says. Kageyama blinks, blindsided by the suggestion.

 _Of course, it would be Volley. Everything began and ended with Volley. Damn that cat._

"What do you think, Hinata?" Bokuto asks and Kageyama's head snaps toward his leveler and the streaked owl.

The redhead glances up at Bokuto who watches him with an avid enthusiasm and the short spiker's head tilts. The smallest smile tips the corner of his mouth and he looks back at Kageyama, his eyes creasing with a telltale excitement.

"I'm okay with it."

Kageyama scowls darkly. This isn't helping them escape. In fact, he's quite sure this is doing the exact opposite. The rookery leader clears his throat lightly and he looks back at him, not relishing whatever input he's going to have.

"A Volley match would be... perfect." The Grand King says, a strangely skewed smile on his face.

It makes Kageyama think that the rookery leader is trying to pull the mask of fabricated enthusiasm back into place and failing. Like it hurts to say the words, but he will stomach them no less. Like he's _not_ satisfied with that, but he will settle for it just the same.

 _Like he's reaching for even the barest threads_.

The notion that his father might be agreeing just for the chance to see and talk to him is totally foreign to Kageyama, bizarre and wrong. The idea that he's willing to bargain for Kageyama's time makes his skin crawl because it's unnatural. This man had commanded his life for centuries, a tool structured and honed for a carefully planned out future. That he might actually want anything more from him… is irreconcilable for the crow setter.

"Tobio?" Hinata asks and he jolts at the name, the feeling he gets when the redhead says it completely different than the one he feels when Tooru does. The avian heir runs a hand through his hair in frustration.

 _How had this encounter been taken out of his hands so smoothly?_

There are _so_ many things that can go wrong. The Grand King could try to kill the cats and owls the moment they turn their backs and then it will be down to just the he and the other former sentries, Tsukishima, and Yamaguchi. His father could wait until they've spent most of their energy on the match and then command that they all be taken prisoner when they have none left to fight. He could have them subdued and return with more sentries to ensure he succeeds in dragging them back to the rookery where they'd likely be detained indefinitely where they'd have no bargaining power, no means of buying their freedom…

 _Wait… wait. That… might work. That could work._

The idea hits him and he doesn't even give himself a chance to second guess it before he's turning toward Shouyou.

"You think you'll be good?" He asks quietly and a brilliant smile lights his face, anticipation skyrocketing in his almond eyes.

"For one match? I think so!" Kageyama's gaze narrows slightly.

 _Somehow, he didn't quite believe that. They'd just busted ass across the sky the first half the day; he's pretty sure his levele_ _r is underestimating his level of fatigue._

A heavy sigh escapes him all the same, and he looks up at the Grand King.

"If we give you a match, do you give us your word that that you will leave us be?" He asks, banking like hell that his father will be up for making a deal.

There's a spark of joyful gratification in the rookery leader's eyes— as if he's won something, and Kageyama almost instantly wants to take it back. He wonders how much he's going to have to fight or promise to get what he wants.

"It's yours, Tobio." He says, a small smile, real and honest breaking his features, the mask forgotten completely and eyes sincere.

And for a moment, Tobio Kageyama doesn't even register that Tooru agreed without any hesitation—no conditions or reservations, because he can't breathe under that look filled not with deception or calculation, but pride, happiness, and more than anything, relief.

A/N: So... start of the end. I feel like it is going to be VERY lackluster after everything else, lol. This one didn't have more than like one rewrite and I think everyone is very out of character -_-

I hope it still comes across well enough. I'm sorry for being slow to post, these are all still being hashed out almost as I'm posting them so they are really rough and I apologize for mistakes/errors/boring. I'm currently home with family for the first time in years and being pulled in 8 directions which means I'm writing these when everyone else is asleep lol. I'm currently being summoned to go play rummy, so take care and have a magical evening guys!


	35. Year Five,25 2-3 Tentative Direction

OMG. I am totally embarrassed. I apologize for the mis-upload the first time around. Lets try again. Thank you someonetheelusivefangirl for pointing that out. Here's the real chapter 35:

 **YEAR FIVE.25 2/3 Tentative Direction**

Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time. ~Lynden B Johnson

 **Lev Haiba** smirks as the small redhead pauses beside the net with something of a guilty look of surprise, realization dawning.

"Eh… Kageyama?" Hinata says sheepishly as he looks at the Volley net. "I maybe spoke too soon. I didn't realize we were talking about regular Volley…"

"You don't say." The setter deadpans.

"We only ever played aerial at the rookery, it makes sense that they wouldn't know the ground game." Asahi says and Noya cocks a brow at him.

"Did you plan this?" Lev grins. Kuroo may have gotten to see aerial Volley games— and maybe Mori, too, but he never had.

"They have a ground net just over there if we want to play a bit later. Mori could probably still play either way, though; he doesn't need height for his position so I doubt he'd need wings, either." He says instead, his leveler's death glare quickly finding him across the circle of avians.

He can't help the way his smile gets bigger. Ribbing the short cat has always been a staple in their relationship, an indirect contributor to them ending up levelers. Heh, he will never regret pushing that little bit extra the day they became levelers instead of backing off like he'd considered.

"Keep talking, you moron." He dares, the slight twitch of his tail just like it had been that day. Hinata looks up at Kageyama uncertainly.

"We haven't played Volley in five years. And my new wings don't always react the same as my old ones. Can we really go up against Iwaizumi's team?" He says with a half-pout, and Kageyama turns a dull cobalt gaze on him.

"Probably not. But we've already agreed. And stomaching one more loss to my father for the chance to escape unhindered— I have no intention of swallowing it without a fight, so get ready."

"All right! I've always wondered what it'd be like to play regular volley with you guys." Bokuto says and Noya glances up at him with a flat expression.

"Probably less fun than you are thinking— you _are_ playing with Kageyama. You won't catch any breaks if you are screwing up." He says and Asahi grins a little sheepishly.

"He can be pretty tough sometimes. But he's trying to motivate you." He says.

"You mean he can be _worse_ than normal?" Tsukishima asks with a cynical smirk. Kageyama scowls with annoyance, but Hinata's face lights up.

"You haven't _seen_ Kageyama serious in a match, Blondy. He doesn't usually get that into it in Ground Volley because it's always casual play, but he goes all 'Fwah!' and hyper focused and tunnel vision— the whole bit when he goes up against the Grand King or Iwa's team. He gets scary zoned and it's so cool and it's awesome when we win!"

The redhead's sudden enthusiasm makes Lev think that even if he'd realized they'd be playing aerial Volley, the small spiker would have still agreed to play even if only to see Kageyama get into it.

"So the psychosis is a family thing." The ibis drawls.

"No, it's a sentry thing, so can it, Beanpole." Noya mutters.

"Eh, how do you want us lined up Kageyama?" Asahi asks, pointedly steering the conversation away from the aggravated path it had been headed down. The avian heir looks around at them with assessment.

"Lev's probably right, Yaku _could_ play libero position if Noya starts slowing down. You okay with that?" He asks and the russet cat nods, and Lev's eyes crease with excitement at the anticipation in his leveler's smirk.

"Okay, keep tabs in the meantime and tell us where we are slacking. Bokuto, are you okay to fill Tanaka's spot and hit strong side?"

"Bring it on!"

"Great. You can line up across from Asahi." He says before looking to the short crow. "They don't really have a libero position in regular volley, but… I think we should try it, because nothing gets past Noya. What do you think?" The small crow's eyes crackle with a fire to match Hinata and Bokuto.

"Give me a couple cracks to get the feel of it and I'm game." He says and Kageyama nods.

"Akaashi, are you okay hitting off side? We can both hit—"

"Tobio! You wouldn't happen to have a spare setter, would you?" Kageyama blinks, a rigid tension slipping into his jaw before turning to look over his shoulder with surprise.

"Setter?" He asks.

"Sir, if you'd just—"

"We are going to need one. Yahaba is out on a scout mission with Kiyotani and Iwa's shite for tosses." Tooru cuts off the sentry leader's aggravated interjection.

"If you'd just _play_ , we wouldn't have a problem." He grumbles, but the Grand King waves him off.

"Nonsense, Iwa. How am I supposed to be a spectator if I'm in the game? Besides, I haven't played in five years. I would be useless anyway." He says with a remarkably well fabricated but false grin. Lev has the acute impression that he's definitely scheming something behind that friendly exterior and resists the urge to twitch his tail restlessly.

"Eh… we haven't played in five years either." Asahi murmurs. Surprise flits across the rookery leader's face.

"No?"

"Nope, we play ground Volley." Lev supplies and the Grand King's gaze settles on him with guarded appraisal. Yaku scoffs at him and the lanky cat is sure he's made a remark his leveler thinks he shouldn't have.

"Ground Volley?" He asks, his head tilting, and Lev grins, Mori's hard look of disapproval not deterring him in the least.

"We can show you a bit after your match—there's a net over there." He says pointing to the other court.

"That would be… interesting." He says before turning back to Feathers.

"I know _you_ probably won't consider it, but what about Nishinoya? I know he was doing some setting before he left… think we could borrow him?"

Lev's gaze swings back toward the short crow only to see a black frown on his face as he looks up at Kageyama ready to argue. But the avian heir is already rebuffing the Grand King's request.

"No. We need Noya for a new lineup we want to try."

"That's awfully selfish of you. Guess you're just out of luck Iwa." The Grand Kings says with a light laugh and the sentry leader rolls his eyes.

"I can toss." Akaashi's quiet voice slips between them and every eye swings in his direction. Lev's head tilts in curiosity as Bokuto's golden orbs dilate with slight alarm.

"Akaashi, you don't—"

"It'll be fine Bokuto. You just have to pick up the slack when everyone else starts dragging. I'm not as great at spiking anyway." He says before meeting Kageyama's intense cobalt gaze.

"Of course, only if you are okay with it." He defers quietly.

"You're sure?" The avian heir asks cautiously and the smaller owl nods. A muscle beside one of Feathers' eyes twitches when he looks at Iwaizumi.

"Akaashi's willing to toss… are you willing to play with an owl?" The sentry leader's eyes have widened and he looks at his superior for input.

"Why not? He knows the game?" Tooru asks and Akaashi steps forward.

"I've been playing ground for five years, so I'll probably be rusty, but give me a few minutes to try getting back into it."

"Akaashi, do you have to play on the other side of the net?" Bokuto complains and the smaller owl turns an exasperated look at him.

"It's one match. You will be fine for a half hour, you streaked pigeon. Kageyama's the better setter anyway. And don't you dare hold back, because I won't. I'm going to make this guy send every spike straight at you." He says, jerking a thumb at Iwaizumi, and Bokuto's jaw clicks shut.

"Shots fired." Noya murmurs with a smirk and Lev grins.

"Well, I'm glad that's settled, then! Shall we?" The Grand King says with a welcoming hand and a smile that might be more curiously amused than fake, Lev's not sure.

Akaashi nods once more to Kageyama's team before following the rookery leader and Iwa back to their side to warm up a bit, his leveler's golden eyes soulfully following him with a solid sullen pout. Kageyama stares after them a few moments before taking a deep breath and turning back to his team.

"Right. Yamaguchi, I was going to have you sub in for Hinata when he starts slowing down, but—"

"I won't slow down, jerk!"

"Keep telling yourself that." Kageyama remarks dryly without looking away from the freckled crow. "Are you comfortable hitting off-side?"

"Sounds good! What about Tsukki?"

"He's a middle, he'll line up across from Shouyou." Lev almost chuckles at the abrupt direction.

 _Still no love lost there. They do amazing at putting aside their crap on the court, but they just don't get along well._

As soon as the lineup is figured out they take to the air and Lev watches them all start going through the motions, Mori just off his elbow.

"It's ironic when they finally come full circle and play their first aerial match together since leaving the rookery that it's against the Grand King's team—the very same from the last time they played." His leveler murmurs, and Lev settles in the grass with a bright-eyed nod and a smile.

It's taken over five years to get back to this point, but as he watches the avians he's come to trust, rely on, and love, he can't help but think all the struggle, pain, and emotional instability were worth the effort. Noya's eyes are bright, the small crow reading the hits that Asahi sends at him, his body automatically pitch-diving to save them with a wild grin. The large bearded crow looks like he's sincerely enjoying himself, his movements and swings fluid with no noticeable weakening yet in the wing that had been crushed in the earthquake.

Bokuto's first couple hits are wild, but the streaked owl's brow furrows in concentration while Kageyama simultaneously makes adjustments. Within a few more tosses, the large owl lets out a whoop as he connects cleanly, the ball thwacking off the broadside of his wing. Tsukishima's face has narrowed with intense focus as he both works on timing for hitting and blocking, his umber eyes calculating and critical. Yamaguchi's face creases with an easy smile when one of his serves lifts high in a perfect float, the ball jittering back and forth as it strikes through the air, it's entire track completely different from Kageyama's bullet fast drop serves.

The setter himself has slipped into an intense attentiveness, his eyes tracking everyone with practiced efficiency, and Lev finally realizes what the redhead means when he says the avian heir 'zones'. His focus is totally on the ball and the court at all times, his tunnel vision forcing all of his attention to the matter at hand. And yet… even now, consumed by the motions of an aerial Volley warmup, Lev can tell that he's still hyper conscious of his leveler. When Hinata finally connects for the first time, a small smile that whispers of pride, love, and elation tips his mouth.

And Shouyou, at the center of them all, lets out a shout that has Bokuto clapping him on the shoulder, Noya returning a rallying cry as he bowls him over in a hug, both Asahi and Yamguchi grinning, and even the ibis pauses to watch his small celebration at returning to the aerial game. Lev gins widely.

Hinata is finally playing ground Volley with the rest of them again when his wings are too tired to keep going with drills. They all knew he'd been probably more frustrated over that than anything else after his wings had first emerged. With his back muscles so weak that just balancing and walking was a task, Volley had been off the table entirely at first.

But this is somehow a little different than him getting back into Ground Volley.

Somehow, Hinata returning to the aerial game is much more profound—a significantly greater moral and personal achievement not just for the redhead, but them all. They've all seen him struggle and fail, seen him in pain and frustrated. They've seen him despondent and hopeful, overwhelmed and motivated, progress and regress. They all knew where this mountain of a setback began, they've all watched him walk this path, and they all _know_ how far he's come. To see him reach a goal he's never voiced, but always wished for… Lev feels gratified to have seen his journey, been there to support him along the way.

Kageyama recalls their focus, but his mouth still quirks with that happy little upturn, his expression softer than Lev assumes it would be. The avian heir's quiet reminder does the trick and their concentration redoubles so that by the time they are lining up at the net, everyone's minds are focused with excited anticipation.

"Ne, Kageyama… think we're still invincible?" Hinata asks and a predatory grin splits the avian heir's face.

"Only one way to find out. Don't drop your arm when you swing, got it, idiot?" Hinata's eyes are bright when they fix on his leveler with joyful challenge.

"Don't slack your tosses, moron." He returns and the blue-eyed crow scoffs.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" He mutters before he glances at the ibis.

"Tsukishima." The blond cuts a bored look at Feathers' address.

"Don't pull your punches. I know what you're capable of." The ibis blinks before a condescending smirk curls his mouth.

"Shouldn't be that hard; they all remind me of you."

"Then you shouldn't have a problem getting fired up." Kageyama's maniacal grin matches the blond's and they line up. Lev smirks.

 _Those two might not see eye to eye, but still… that relationship has come leagues from where it started. Mori's right. With collaboration comes understanding even if they clash in every aspect._

And then the match starts, Bokuto tossing one last look of betrayal at his leveler across the net as Hinata serves. Lev's own better half is on his feet in a mere two rallies, the short cat barely able to restrain himself to watching quietly on the sidelines instead of pacing anxiously. The lanky cat is sure he'd be an excellent candidate for a coach someday, and privately chuckles at the thought of the small cat battling for respect from a team who would likely all have outgrown him.

"May I sit?"

Lev blinks and looks up to find the Grand King beside him with that genial smile from earlier and suppresses the urge to get warily to his feet.

"Sure… though I think you would be more comfortable around your own." He says with a shrug and a small smirk instead. The rookery leader's head tilts, that easy expression never wavering.

"What makes you say that?" Lev's grin becomes genuine.

"Because _I'm_ uncomfortable. Kageyama wasn't kidding. There's something about you that makes my hair stand on end, and I can't decide if it's the fake smile that _almost_ makes me relax or the air of threat that radiates from you just behind it. It's like you are prepared to off me at any point, and you'll do it with a laugh. It's quite disturbing." Lev says, and the Grand King's mouth quirks with a hint of true amusement as he eases down beside him.

"That's a given; you're a cat." He says lightly and Lev turns his attention back to the match where Kageyama just highlighted Bokuto for a dynamite hit. As he listens to the streaked owl gloat to a disinterested Akaashi, his mouth twitches.

"Then between you and me, I've lived with Feathers for five years and in that time, I've seen his life saved more times by a _cat_ than a bird."

"Is that a subtle brag?" Lev can almost hear the cocked eyebrow in his tone and his own rise as he looks back at the rookery leader.

"Brag?" He asks with a laugh. "No, _I've_ never saved his life, but Mori has… and Kuroo has twice— although, it's probably a good thing _he's_ not here. He'd probably kill you on sight."

"And you wonder why I'm uneasy with my son living with cats." He says with a tight smirk. Lev shakes his head slightly, his green eyes dancing with mirth.

"Kuroo's avian reservations are almost entirely restricted to you and your sentries. You did take out over half his clan, after all. But Kageyama isn't you. Kuroo's nearly died saving your son's skin more than once; Feathers is easy to figure out and Kuroo identifies with the things he desires most."

"Does he?" The Grand King asks absently before looking at him with heavy focus.

"Would you know what's up with his wings?" He asks and Lev's brow furrows as he tries to keep up with the rookery leader's abrupt topic change.

He frowns a little because it feels like he's just been asked something he's pretty sure Mori wouldn't want him casually discussing with this guy… but the creases at the edges of the Grand King's eyes—he recognizes them. This man…is hurting.

"Eh? Wings?" He asks curiously.

"The ends… why are they white? I knew him since he was moments old before they ever grew in and they've never come in white." The Grand King clarifies and Lev's confusion clears.

Yeah, definitely something Mori probably won't like him talking about, and to the man beside him no less.

 _Eh… oh well. I'll grovel later. I know one or two good tricks to mollify him._

"Ah, that. Mori's the leveler expert, but since he's mine, I pick up some things, too. The white tipping means that his leveler was injured enough that the only thing that saved him was the activation of that bond. Basically, Hinata would have died if Kageyama wasn't there—which means they both would have." He says.

"So that bond saved their lives? The stories are true?" The Grand King asks with narrowed eyes.

"Not on its own, it can't. The leveler bond actually has very little power unless the pair are together. But you don't _have_ to be together—or even know your leveler—for it to take you out if your other half dies."

"Sounds more like a curse than a blessing. How do you know who your leveler is?"

Lev frowns slightly, his eyes drifting to Mori as he calls out to Asahi to start his approach quicker after one of his hits is blocked. The small russet cat was the only exception he knew of to the rule; no one really knew who the avians' levelers were until they found out via the breaking or binding side effects. Somehow, the small feline just _knew_ , but the rest of them… everyone's guess was a good one until they had a confirmation.

"You don't." He says, his thoughts drifting. Mori had such a keen eye and such a powerful sense of perception that he'd had Lev figured out while the grey cat himself had been clueless.

"I was born the youngest of three by only a half hour— triplets. By the end of my first day of life, I was one of twins. My sister and I, Mom used to tell us she didn't think we'd make it either because we were so small. But we did. Alisa and I survived infancy, got bigger, _lived_. We were inseparable as kids, always did everything together. We started walking, talking, hunting together— everything. She was my best friend.

"But like, five centuries ago, we were cornered by some hawks while we were out playing by the creek. She died that day… and do you know what her brother did? He fled. He left her there and ran, only to return after dark to a cold, stiff body. I don't know what they all did to her, but I know she was missing one of her ears and she'd been drowned. They'd tied her up and tossed her in the river.

"And instead of even going for help, I ran and hid. Mom didn't tell me about how we'd beaten the odds as kids anymore after that." He says, the recollection suffocating him.

"Your reaction as a child was normal. An adult would probably act differently." The Grand King's oddly reassuring remark surprises the grey cat as it pulls him back to the present, even if the note of puzzled annoyance that still bleeds into it does not. He smiles slightly with a short nod.

"I'm sure you're right; you seem smart like Mori… but it didn't matter how old I was, it didn't change how much knowing I abandoned her hurt. I still think about her all the time, still wish she was here, too. I've been stuck in that memory for centuries. But five years ago, I glimpsed a future for the first time since that awful day when I ran into Hinata and Feathers. I _met_ that future a year later.

"I don't remember what it was like not to have white ears, didn't even realize they weren't natural when Mori first pointed them out. But they were a dead giveaway that I'd lost someone very close to me. When he asked me about it, all I could think was that if there was one person whose death had irrevocably changed my world, it was hers. Mori's a bit like her— she was taller than he is and less angry all the time… but I could still embarrass her on a whim." He says with a small smile.

"So, the white ears are like the frosted wings." The Grand King says, a bid for clarification that recalls the grey cat's focus.

Lev nods once, his gaze landing on the russet cat as he barks at Kageyama for sending a toss just out of Tsukishima's reach. He almost laughs at the ensuing grudging apology from the avian heir and amused scoff from the ibis, but the very next volley Hinata snaps into place out of nowhere and that devastating quick finally makes its appearance. Lev grins; they are finally finding that rhythm. When he glances over, he's pleased to see the look of surprise on the rookery leader's face.

"Pretty impressive, huh? That new quick is murderous on the ground; I'm surprised they've managed to translate it to the air game so fast." A small smirk slips onto his face, but Tooru's eyes remain on the match in front of them with rapt focus.

"It might have been a fluke." He says and Lev snorts.

"Kageyama doesn't have flukes…he's always on point, and there's no one who matches up with him better than Hinata. Not even Suga and Daichi are that synced, no matter how much better they get along _off_ the court." He says with a laugh before turning back to the game.

"Sugawara and Sawamura? They are alive, still?"

"Of course! So is Tanaka, he was a sentry you'd know, too, I guess. They're just all back home with the others yet."

"Others?" The Grand King asks and Lev irrefutably _knows_ this is somehow a question Mori would forbid him to answer. So he grins widely when he looks at the Grand King.

"Yep, others! This isn't everyone, there's a bunch more. We're supposed to be sending ravens with every town we hit." He says easily and the rookery leader cocks a brow at him but doesn't push the issue. Lev is glad, because he's _not_ that good at keeping critical information under wraps. His smile softens just a bit and his emerald gaze drifts.

"Leveler bonds are a curious thing. Mori says it doesn't matter if its avian, feline, or whatever, the bond can exist between anyone. It can be between lovers, siblings, parent and child, allies, enemies, strangers, friends. A leveler is supposed to bring out the greatest person you can become; it might not be typical, but that person doesn't have to be a significant other. The difference between felines and avians is that we kind of get to 'pick' ours while birds always seem to exist exclusively in pairs. Mori has a theory on that, too, but I think he might be reaching on that one." He says.

"And what does Mori think?" The Grand King prompts with a patronizing smirk and Lev blinks.

"I'm not as good at the leveler stuff and he explains it better, but… he thinks leveler bonds develop in response to circumstance. Basically, the bond coalesces in response to a shared incident or experience. I think he's thinking too hard on this one, though, and the link is established as soon as both exist. But avians have no real way of knowing who theirs are for sure unless they sustain injury, or something like that."

"'Or something like that'?" The rookery leader echoes skeptically and Lev shrugs.

"Like I said, Mori's better with the leveler stuff."

"I'm curious, Cat. If I make you uncomfortable, why are you telling me all this?" Lev's brow furrows and he looks back at the Grand King's searching dark eyes.

"Because you asked?" He answers, unsure why the rookery leader wants to know. The way his face creases into a much too friendly smile lets him know he missed the mark.

"Subtlety and nuance is lost on youth, apparently." He murmurs more to himself than Lev and the lanky cat's head tilts.

"Not that it matters, but I don't think there is _anything_ subtle about you, Grand King." He says, because really, the man is a walking beacon.

The way he talks, dresses, acts, his entire personality really—just the way he carries himself, he stands out as nobility or at the very least, privileged. And that doesn't even cover the rigid posture and movements that betray his military standing. The Grand King looks at him for a moment with a cocked eyebrow and then laughs.

"I suppose so. Why did you suggest a Volley match? Why would you help me?" He says with a grin that's more real than fake.

 _Ah. So that was the real question._

Lev wants to bang his head against a tree, because he was raised in the forest, not a court or even a town. Mori would have been far more skilled at navigating this guy with all of his world knowledge; the tall cat knows very little about decorum and subterfuge. Still, he started this and even if he's not as versed in politics, he can still offer a candid response.

And with wry chagrin, he realizes that this is probably why the Grand King zeroed in on him to begin with. Nearly all the Karasuno unit had all remarked on his uncanny ability to read people and manipulate them, hadn't they? If he was that good at it, he'd probably have picked up that the tall cat was easy to ply for information—skies knew the other avians had all figured that out by this point much to Mori's annoyance. Lev mentally shrugs, resigned to the reality that he will probably be facing an angry leveler once more.

"Because Feathers is one of ours and you are a parent. A child craves affection and approval, and a parent will frequently pay any price to see their kid well. I think what you want probably isn't that different from what he wants." He says. Mori won't be happy with him, he's certain, but that's okay. Family is important—especially when it's ready to make an effort to connect.

"And what do we want, Cat?" The Grand King asks, a brow rising up his forehead curiously. Lev can't decide if the man beside him is just insulting him or is honestly interested in what he thinks—or perhaps both.

 _Eh, don't really care,_ he muses and turns to look back at the game only to find his leveler's gaze fixed on him with a well-worn homicidal stare. Ah. He should have noticed that it had gotten quieter the last few moments.

 _Well, that means time's almost up._

"I think at the moment, you just want the chance for a relationship; he probably shares that, but before that he's always just wanted to keep the people he cares about safe. There has to be some common ground there?" He asks as Yaku starts their way with an irritated stomp, so he continues without any prompt.

"Blood calls to blood by its very nature, but… if you pressure him, you'll set him against you. Use Hinata to force him, you'll make an enemy for life. Threaten that which he will and _has_ killed to protect, and you'll lose him forever. His next step has always been to disappear entirely. If you push him, he will go off grid and overseas, and you can be sure you _won't_ find him again."

"Lev!" His ear flicks sheepishly in Mori's direction. He _does_ sound irritated. But really… sometimes it's almost _worth it_ to get his leveler worked into a frenzy.

"He might be different from the way you remember, but he is still the same person. I think he'd be willing to give you the opportunity to get to know him again, but he's going to need a show of faith before he'll consider it. I guess it comes down to whether you hear him and are able to trust him." He says getting to his feet. The Grad King's eyes watch him sharply as he mimics the motion, the crow having to look up at him as he straightens. The easy smile hasn't wavered from his face, but the tension is back around his eyes.

"Trust him to what?" He asks with a hard edge and Lev smiles.

"To be Tobio Kageyama. To be your son." He says simply as Yaku stomps up to him.

"You _freaking_ grimalkin. You have an attention span worse than that of a five-year-old. You are supposed to be cheering your team on, not making friends with the other side." He growls, latching onto Lev's collar. He has to bend a little as Mori yanks him along behind himself, but he smiles impishly all the same.

"Come on. And don't think I don't know what you are up to, you cheeky twit!" The short cat snaps. Lev glances back toward the Grand King once with a devious glint as if to say _'Watch this'_. He snakes his arms around his leveler and lifts him from the ground in a suffocating hug.

"It's alright, Mori, he just had questions about the other short guys."

A moment later, Lev is still grinning madly despite the sharp pain from his ear where his leveler pinches it with one of his blackest scowls since they'd met while spewing colorful threats. His green eyes dance, the talk with the Grand King largely sidelined for later contemplation, because Mori's getting remarkably worked up, and he just _knows_ tonight is going to be one for the records.

A/N: So Lev chapter... I actually never had one planned for him and this one came up for grabs in the last week and I was like... 'why not'; honestly, it was a struggle. It feels like the most meandering thing to me- like i had a goal but no idea how to reach it so I took the clumsiest, longest route to get there. Lev is a character I am comfortable writing from the outside; the moment I try to step into his mind, I feel lost, so I apologize if this one seems really all over the place.

Next chapter is also unfinished as of right now, and I'm flying tomorrow again, so if I post, it will probably be late like today's (sorry for that, it wasn't intentional). I haven't gotten to reviews yet either, so I apologize for that, too. In the meantime, stay awesome and have a wonderful evening guys!


	36. Year Five,25 3-3 Sanguine

**YEAR FIVE.25 3/3 Sanguine**

If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.

 **Hajime Iwaizumi** follows the rookery leader into his study, his entire spine rigid.

He has no idea what is coming. He doesn't know if he should expect a thank you and a pat on the back or a beheading. He doesn't know if he will be rewarded for his efforts or imprisoned, doesn't know if he'll see the sun rise tomorrow. He doesn't know if he's made the right choices and he doesn't know if the Grand King will recognize his reasons.

What he does know… is that the man he's always followed, whose back is to him now as he comes to stand in the center of the room, the man he's given his sanity, his very heart and soul to serve—he _knows._

They'd finished playing that one match, the rookery team having won by just a hair with the owl setter who he remembers being disturbingly good at knots. It had been a very unpredictable match for them and it had taken every ounce of concentration they'd had to stay on their toes.

Kageyama's team had been a complete wildcard; the only four people he knew anything about Volley wise were the avian heir, the shrimp, the short crow, and the bearded ace. The ibis and crow he'd tailed back to their beach home had both played, the blond in particular quite formidable at the net. The streaked owl who'd been laid up the last time he'd seen him was as powerful as Azumane and as motivated as Hinata.

And they'd set up in a baffling lineup. Nishinoya had rotated in when the small spiker and the ibis hit the back row, always playing defense. He never hit, would occasionally set a ball for Azumane or Kageyama, but damn, he'd gotten good at receives.

And of course, they'd had to deal with that beast of a serve from the crow setter, but the singularly most dangerous aspect about their team had been the quick from Hinata and Kageyama. It was lightning fast and impossible to keep up with. They'd scored probably eight points off that alone, the owl setter grousing about how the rookery blockers would have to be faster if they wanted to stop him. The avian heir and the shrimp were so in sync that it was hard to keep tabs on them. And with Kageyama as setter, every time any of the others went to hit, it was always a perfect toss.

Really, the only reason they'd _won_ was because Kageyama's team had literally _not_ played aerial volley in five years. It seemed like all of Hajime's team's points had been made off the other side's mistakes that were textbook of having not played together, and being out of practice. There were several instances where it was apparent that this group didn't normally play together and had _never_ played aerial together in any case.

And then there was their condition. Every one of them was damn near spent by the time the last point fell. They might have played 'ground Volley' as the grey cat had called it—every day, but it was a different type of energy being spent in aerial and they were clearly unused to it. The first to fail had been Hinata, his wings starting to go unresponsive on him before they hit the last ten points of the game even with the short crow subbing for him on back line. When they'd sent the short cat in and pulled Nishinoya into Hinata's place for the rest of the match despite how he was slowing down as well, Hajime's team had nearly faltered completely in surprise.

Only a sharp word from the owl setter on their side had brought their focus back into call, but it was _uncanny_ how quick that small cat was, and how well he covered all the hits from the ground just like Noya had done in the air. It had been even _more_ unsettling that the cat had constantly been behind and below them, and they'd placed complete faith in his abilities to not only cover them in game, but also to not attack them from behind. It was far easier to forget that their setter and the streaked ace on the other side were owls as they'd played, but the small feline lacking wings was impossible to see as anything else.

Really, the one time he'd seen the Grand King's jaw really tighten throughout that entire match was when that cat had been on the court in easy striking distance of any of the other avians who all apparently trusted him far and away enough to leave their backs to him without a second thought. It didn't' matter that Tooru had set the rest of the _rookery_ team on edge when he'd gone and sat with the grey cat for ten minutes; he wasn't comfortable with his son being in such close proximity to them.

But that had made absolutely no difference to Kageyama who readily interacted with both the cats and the owls. He spoke to all of them without reservation, barked at anyone getting lazy, and even offered quiet praise when they connected for a particularly exhilarating winning rally. He collided with the streaked owl on blocks, automatically found Nishinoya or the small cat for that perfect receive to line up a toss, sought out crows as often as he did Hinata, the ibis, or the owl for hits. Watching Kageyama play with the varied group, it had been obvious that he no longer saw the differences he and the Grand King stumbled over; instead, he'd trusted his receivers implicitly, honed his tosses for each spiker, and had faith that everyone would put forth every bit as much effort as he did.

After the aerial match, they'd proceeded to start a casual game of four on four at the ground Volley net and from there, it had become abundantly clear where their greatest strengths had manifested in the last five years. Even dragging after shelling their wings on an aerial match, the casual ground match had been mind boggling in how quick it was. It had been eerie how comfortable they all were without using their wings, and it suddenly all made sense how the ibis and freckled crow had been able to read him so easily that day he'd followed them home. They'd all been so accustomed to ground movement that there were times where they looked far more feline than avian—like cats with wings instead of actual birds.

Noya's real impact had come through clear with his ability to snap into place perfectly to receive any ball. The small cat on the other side had been just as fluid and just as dangerous. The grey cat had taken flak all around for getting excited when he got a blocking hot streak going, because ' _shut up, you furball, you didn't burn out through an earlier match'_. But it had seemed to ignite a resurgence of energy just the same, the ibis and shrimp stepping up to hit around him. The two owls, now on the same side of the net, suddenly connected like Kageyama and Hinata had in the air, their practiced precision nearly as deadly. Asahi's power and control off his hand had been frighteningly advanced over the broadside hits off his wing from the aerial match, and the freckled crow's jump serve was as devastating as Kageyama's. And of course, the freak duo had been even _more_ insanely lethal in their element.

When Kageyama finally called a stop, he'd handed the bundle of herbs he'd been buying when they'd run into them to the smaller owl to make a tea for Hinata in an oddly domestic action. The redhead had scowled at him, and Akaashi had wordlessly nodded and set to the task without hesitation. It was strange, because they had to have known that burning all their energy on the Volley match would leave them vulnerable in the event the Grand King went back on his word, and yet they followed through.

Not once in the following few hours had Kageyama's group turned toward them expectantly, determined to part ways. Instead, they'd secured food for a meal, and the Grand King, Hajime, and his unit had cautiously and reservedly joined them for it on the invitation of the lanky cat much to the short one's supreme irritation.

"But Mori, you'd never be able to eat all this anyway, you're too small."

" _You're_ either masochistic or very stupid." The ibis had remarked before the small cat had had a chance to respond.

"The first one. Mori explained it to me once, and it's that one." The grey cat had said and even Hajime had snorted through his own tension.

"God dammit, Lev. I swear to god, I will bury you." The russet cat had threatened.

"You know, I'm pretty sure it's actually a bit of both. Yaku got Akaashi to teach him that one knot just last week." The streaked owl had said and Noya had perked up.

"The gag one?" He'd asked before turning to the smaller owl. "What did Lev do to piss him off so bad that time?"

"It was a prank." Kageyama had supplied flatly without looking at any of them and Hinata had laughed.

"Lev told Tanaka exactly how high he needed to suspend Yaku's pants while he was in the bath so he couldn't reach them even by jumping." The redhead had chimed in as the smaller owl had handed him his cup of tea.

"Wait, _that's_ why you were so livid that day?" Azumane had asked the russet cat who'd worn nothing but a homicidal scowl permanently affixed to the grey one.

"Hey, that one wasn't intentional. Tanaka sent Natsu to ask the question and I assumed she was just curious. I didn't know any of that was going to happen." The grey cat had groveled.

If one had been able to get over their reservations, the group really was quite entertaining.

Hajime had seen how the Grand King had watched every interaction with a critical eye, had zeroed in on Hinata and Kageyama in particular. And he knew the rookery leader didn't miss the careful attention that was ever on the redhead by everyone as he grew almost visibly stiff in his muscles and wings, his own son most of all. The rookery leader's mouth would quirk slightly when the young crow setter would fall into bantering exchanges with all of them, both giving and taking insults with far more ease than he ever had as a sentry. Tooru's brow had risen when the rest of Kageyama's mismatched group constantly reminded he and the redhead about keeping space between them much to their annoyance.

And Hajime had seen his own shock mirrored in the creases of his king's face when Kageyama had finally brushed them off because 'he'd already let the bat out of the bag, so forget it', the ensuing glow that ignited anytime the two settled together more than a couple minutes nailing a stark reality home.

And his face had smoothed into neutral geniality anytime Kageyama would throw him a challenging glance, as if to say,

'Y _ou wanted to see, so look. Are you satisfied? Are you disappointed? Do you think I care? Do you still doubt me? Still intend make me your successor? I will not comply. I will never conform. Go ahead and force me back home, just you try it.'_

The young heir's looks were each a silent dare, a declaration that he stood against everything the Grand King wanted for him—wanted _from_ him… and Hajime knew that somewhere inside the rookery leader, they had each cut like a knife. Here was the person he'd invested everything in, but who wanted nothing to do with him—not even the time to talk. He'd spent centuries grooming this kid to take his place only to have everything he'd planned to hand over thrown back in his face, because he'd never paused to _listen_ to him when he'd needed Tooru's support and understanding most.

They'd never fostered a relationship that allowed that connection and it was destroying whatever was left of it now. Because Kageyama and Hinata were levelers… and the black cat had been right.

The Grand King _would_ have killed his own son, unintentionally as it might have been. Somewhere along the line, Hajime had discerned that the rookery leader had intended to exile Hinata, not just ban him, and he knew the life expectancy of a grounded avian had been bleak. If Kageyama had allowed things to continue as they were, had let him be exiled, they might have already had a dead prince. And Hajime knew that painful reality had struck deep, and was only exacerbated by Kageyama's flatly rebellious and accusatory glances.

The others had taken their cue from him. While not as outwardly hostile, they'd maintained a buffer of politeness, but it was easy to tell that they were simply waiting for the sentry group to leave. Kageyama might not have wanted to lead, but the entire group here moved off his word. He'd said that Kuroo ran the show at the beach house… but even back then, the avian heir's opinions had held weight. He'd watched the avians and cats around the crow prince and Hinata with their carefully attentive demeanor, his brow scrunched.

And in a flash of insight, Hajime had understood.

It _wasn't_ Kageyama who was the puppet master… because even _he_ made every choice and move with regard to another. The idea that the small redhead was actually the one holding the strings of this entire group of mismatched individuals had been mind boggling, because Hinata himself was probably the most oblivious to it. Which meant all of these people followed Kageyama because of the sunny redhead, gravitated and listened to the cobalt-eyed prince because his leveler did. And they all did that of their own free will—even the antagonistic ibis.

When the Grand King had called for he and his unit to gather so they could head back to the rookery without so much as a word of summons in Kageyama's direction, Hajime had been…surprised. The Grand King had turned toward the group that watched them warily, his gaze pausing on the grey cat who'd smiled slightly at them before he found his son.

"We should play again sometime, Tobio. I'll have to ask your source to set up another match." Hajime had tensed, but the avian heir hadn't even glanced at the sentry leader.

"You are letting us go?" Kageyama had asked instead, as if he could hardly believe it.

"That is what you wanted, right? Take care, Feathers." He'd said with a pinched smile, and Kageyama… had stared.

And then the avian heir had taken three steps forward and bowed to the rookery leader. After an entire evening of scalding looks, the action was the first from his son that wasn't rebellious or willfully provoking. It was one of respect… and gratitude. It had made the rookery leader's shoulders pull up just a touch in surprise before he'd turned and leapt into the sky, Hajime and the rest of the other sentries following without needing any order.

The glimpse he'd caught of the expression on his face… had been one of joyful sorrow. The creases at the corners of his eyes had betrayed how much pain he was feeling, but the small serene smile that touched his lips had told Hajime that he would suffer it in silence.

And Hajime wants to cringe, because the entire trip home, the rookery leader hasn't _once_ looked at him.

Tooru hasn't looked his way since that one glance back at the little shop in the moments after they'd first run into Kageyama. Hasn't sought his gaze since that one instant where the rookery leader's eyes had been creased with comprehension and betrayal.

The Grand King knows. There's no way he can't. He's one of the sharpest people Hajime's ever met, an aspect of his personality that _hasn't_ changed since Kageyama and the first unit left.

And all he can do is wait for the impending disaster as he watches the Grand King's silent form, the room feeling too crowded despite the way they are the only two in it.

"You lied, Iwa." The declaration comes, quiet and flat, and Hajime is glad that Tooru is facing the back wall of his study, because he doesn't want to know what expression he's wearing. Still he swallows all the same; he won't cower in shame.

"Yes." He says, his voice sounding hollow. The Grand King's head turns just slightly, as if he's making sure to catch every word, but determined not to give him the respect of his attention.

"You kept information from me." That dead tone grates on Hajime's nerves, but he won't shy. He did this; he will be prepared for whatever comes because of it.

"Yes, sir."

"You fed them info in return." He flinches, because while he didn't feed the beach crew information that would necessarily have compromised the rookery leadership or military, he _did_ warn them when sentries were encroaching too close.

"I did." He says woodenly and the Grand King's shoulders slack, his gaze dropping to the floor by his feet.

"How long, Iwa." It's not the query Hajime expects. It's not that all-encompassing, critical 'why'. But the Grand King _knows_ … and Hajime is through with lying.

"I found them about a year after they went missing." He says.

"Four years." The Grand King says softly. He lets out a tired breath and moves to sit at his desk, still not meeting Hajime's eyes.

"Four years, Iwa. There's something really disheartening that the only person to have been blatantly honest with me regarding Tobio happened to be a cat who doesn't have a filter. Your source this whole time was my own son." He says and Hajime frowns.

"No. I was in contact with someone who knew Feath—Kageyama; he wasn't the actual source." He says, the moniker for the avian heir almost rolling off his tongue through sheer reflex.

After four years of conversing with the black cat and the name having become synonymous with the avian heir, he's painfully aware of how he's almost come to use it more than the avian prince's own name anytime he thinks of him. He feels another pang of guilt as the rookery leader's eyes flicker to the side, knowing he didn't miss it. That blasted name that brought everything to a head, to light, to ruin… and Hajime couldn't be more ashamed to have uttered it now, more than cementing his role in all of this.

"Well at least you aren't lying about that." Tooru says quietly, his face creasing with the slightest frown.

"I beg your pardon, sir?" Hajime asks uncertainly.

"Tobio is my son; I know his handwriting. Neither of the two individuals' on that missive you showed me were his."

 _Oh._

He really had been toying with fire this whole time; the slightest slip, one wrong step, and it would all have shattered. As it turns out, his gamble to get the Grand King to act and save Kageyama and the others from the snake nest had proved too much of a stretch. He'd caved too far under the pressure of time constraints and a critical situation.

"But Feathers is unquestionably Tobio." The Grand King says, a bid for clarification that recalls his attention. Hajime nods once.

"The same. He was at the snake nest that night."

"That was why you were so adamant."

"My contact called for help to save him; if I'd refused, he probably would have died."

"And did you know about Tobio and Hinata?" The Grand King doesn't have to say anything more for Hajime to know that he's asking about their leveler status.

"No. When I found him, the shrimp didn't have wings again yet, and they didn't tell me."

"But you knew his location—you know where he is now. Did you help him escape?"

"I did not. I was as baffled by his disappearance as anyone until I found out myself."

"Iwa."

"Sir?"

"Where has my son been the last five years?" Hajime's breath catches.

"I can't reveal that, sir." He says and Tooru's eyes narrow even if his expression remains flat.

"Because you don't want me to find him? Because you want his place?" Hajime's jaw drops and then his brow wrinkles into a hard frown.

"Because he will disappear again the moment he finds out you know. That was the deal—I'd be allowed to know their movements so long as _you_ never did. I made the choice to be able to contact him if the need should arise over losing touch with him altogether again."

"I don't know if I should trust you, Iwa." His gut twists at those words.

 _You can._

"What would you like me to do, sir?" He asks hollowly instead.

"Talk to me, Iwa." The Grand King says, his eyes never leaving top of his desk.

"What do you want me to say?" He feels like his chest is being crushed.

"All of it." Hajime's gut sinks.

"I can't tell you everything, sir." He murmurs in a strangled voice.

"I don't care, Iwa. Just speak."

So Hajime speaks.

~Three Months Later, Summer's End~

Hajime takes a deep breath and pushes into the rookery leader's study. He's wholly uncomfortable with this plan, and he's _most_ displeased with the damn cat showing up here yet again.

 _They've been over this, time and again. Cats don't belong in the freaking rookery._

"Ah, Iwa! I was actually just going to come find you. Yahaba was in here not too long ago complaining about how much you've been leaving the team practices to him. You know, your team will suffer if your performances decline, right?"

"Yes, well that will have to wait, sir. There is someone I'm supposed to bring you to meet."

"Oh, your contact? You've set up a location to talk with the cat?"

"Eh…" Hajime blows out a breath of frustration and runs a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I guess. He's in the next room over." Tooru blinks at him.

"Excuse me?" Hajime wants to grimace.

 _This was why he'd told the cat not to come here._

"Next room over. He's waiting for you." He repeats. Tooru stands, his face creasing with irritation. As he steps around his desk and heads for the door as Hajime holds it open for him, the rookery leader's face takes on the hint of a scowl.

"And how many people know he's this deep in the rookery?" He asks as Hajime steps around him and leads the way the ten steps to the next little conference room, mentally trying to prepare himself for the coming storm.

"None." He says flatly as he reaches for the door and the rookery leader jars.

"What? How the hell did you get him here without anyone knowing?" The Grand King asks critically as he follows him inside.

"He didn't. We found our own way in." The voice of the black cat answers for him and Tooru pauses, throwing an uneasy glance his way. Hajime merely steps back and bows with a hand extended toward the room in invitation to allow the rookery leader by. His eyes crease slightly with accusation before he regroups, his features smoothing out into amiable guardedness, and Hajime knows automatically that it isn't genuine; the slight tension in the muscles of his neck betray how on edge he is.

And as he takes in the room's occupants, the sentry leader sees them tighten just a little more. Both the ibis and streaked owl are here, too; neither had been part of the meeting request the Grand King had had him extend to Kuroo. As the black cat stands to his full height, he wonders if the feline did it on purpose for intimidation, because the Grand King isn't accustomed to being one of the shortest people in the room.

"Kuroo, I presume? I see you've brought friends." He says easily and the cat nods and extends a hand.

"Insurance. You will have to forgive the unexpected intrusion, but I have a hard time trusting you any farther than I can throw you." The cat says evenly, his mismatched gaze piercing in its intensity. Tooru takes the hand with only the slightest hesitation and a mild smile, but his eyes crease slightly with guarded caution.

"Don't worry, the feeling is mutual." He says and Kuroo's gaze sharpens.

"Mutual as in your minions directly killed off half my friends and family?" He asks quietly, his presence barely changing, but the words make him far more menacing. But Tooru meets the challenge head on.

"Mutual as in you have my son in your care, and I haven't had a confirmation of Tobio's wellbeing since that impromptu meeting and match three months ago; just your word through Iwa's ravens."

"Then I shouldn't point out that your one relative has fared far better in my care than all of mine did in yours? You'd be interested then to know I was the one that talked him into holding off on picking up and moving when we got your request for a rematch." Tooru's gaze fractures but his eyes harden.

"If that's true, what reason would you have for doing that? What are you after?" He asks releasing the cat's hand.

"Sleepless nights and a whole new level of hell, apparently." He says and Bokuto snorts, earning an exasperated gaze that makes Hajime think the cat has already had to remind the owl why they are here.

Kuroo turns and gestures for the rookery leader to sit before taking the chair across the table. Hajime can tell that Tooru is uncomfortable, can see the rigid set to his shoulders as he does as the cat bids.

"I told your idiot kid to sit tight because a certain grey cat asked me to, not because it was any idea of mine."

"Then I suppose I owe Lev a thank you." He says and Kuroo's eye flashes. Hajime is privately impressed that the Grand King remembered his name from that one evening of interaction—although Yaku had barked it often enough that he'd be amused if he didn't.

"I hope so. You won't get another opportunity to tap him for information like that again. He might mean well, but he has about as much awareness of what he's dealing with as if he were to walk into a viper pit blindfolded—and experience says he might well pay for it."

"The cat was honest; you have nothing to fear for him from me. All I want is for Tobio to honor our agreement." Hajime hates how _honesty_ has become one of the Grand King's biggest concerns in the last three months where it hadn't been in the last however many centuries. It's easily the biggest sticking point in their own odd relationship right now.

"Exploiting a minor technicality of that deal is pretty underhanded for a king." The ibis cuts in and Kuroo glances at him sharply.

"The guy _is_ right, though. We didn't actually give _him_ a match; we gave the sentry unit with him a match." The owl on the cat's other side rebuffs. Kuroo clears his throat and the streaked owl scowls.

"In your message, you asked for two things: the location of our home and a Volley rematch. I want to give you neither." The black cat says darkly.

"But we might be able to give you both." The owl says with a cheeky smirk.

"Ignore him. He's just amped at the idea of another chance to beat you guys. His opinions carry no weight." The ibis says and Kuroo looks like he's losing his patience as the streaked owl puffs up with indignance.

"You blond prick—"

"Do you guys remember what I asked you along for?" Kuroo cuts Bokuto off and the owl blinks.

"We're supposed to be backup in case things go south." He answers while the ibis merely watches them all with a bored look.

"Right. And I enjoy the running commentary from you two, but I don't think it's necessary for this interaction. Can we resume this on the way home?" Kuroo says with a nonplussed look. When the other two avians fall silent he turns back to the Grand King.

"I have to wonder what you did to Feathers that he's willing to go to the ends of the earth to get away from you. It took his redheaded leveler _two days_ to convince him to even think about it. Do you know how long it normally takes him to get Feathers to do something? Two _minutes_ , tops. It even almost sparked another 'breaking' fight. Kageyama wanted _nothing_ to do with your request." He says, his one clear eye straying nonchalantly to his nails.

"What happened is in the past and none of your business." The Grand King says stiffly. The cat's uneven golden gaze flickers for a moment before finding Tooru again.

"Actually, it kind of is. Kageyama might be your son, but he's my clanmate and friend, and I happen to care about his mental state, despite his penchant for frazzling my mind. Either way, I've heard enough that I can probably guess the rest." Kuroo says quietly, his gaze piercing and Hajime gets the feeling that the cat probably knows more about that strained relationship than even _he_ does.

"Lev might have asked me to cool his wings, but if you want someone to thank, it should be the shrimp. Kageyama is willing to _consider_ a rematch—at our home—under one condition." Kuroo says critically.

"Which is?" Tooru prompts, almost sounding eager.

"You declare a successor." The Grand King blinks at the black cat with surprise.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You must declare a successor such that you will have no way to force him back home by pinning the responsibility back on him."

"And who am I just going to throw into that position on a whim? It takes centuries to condition someone to rule."

"Then it will be centuries before you see your son."

"But Daichi did have a suggestion." The streaked owl cuts in.

"Pinfeathers, Bokuto. You suck at being a wallflower." Kuroo says exasperatedly.

"Pinfeathers?" The Grand King asks, a brow cocking disbelievingly and Kuroo shakes his head with a huff of annoyance.

"Yeah, just another one of your avian-isms," he murmurs with a flourish, "I'm surrounded by more winged morons twenty-four-seven than I can keep track of; it was bound to start happening eventually." The Grand King clears his throat lightly.

"I see. So who does Sawamura recommend?" He asks politely, as if he has no intention of taking it seriously in any case.

"The person who's constantly been at your side." The cat answers frankly, finding Hajime behind the rookery leader, his companions' gazes quickly following. There are several moments where both he and the Grand King stare back at the black cat before Tooru's gaze flicks toward him with a raised brow.

 _Oh, yes, this doesn't look like a setup for me at all. It_ definitely _doesn't look like I kept their secret in return for their support in my own bid for power. Gods damn you, you blasted cat._

The Grand King doesn't even get the chance to argue, because Hajime's losing his temper faster than the rookery leader can turn back to the large feline.

"You can kindly go to hell. I'm not going to lead this place." He growls.

"Unless I'm mistaken, your assessment isn't the one that counts." The ibis says frostily.

"The blond is right…" The Grand King says before turning back to Kuroo inquisitively, "but I'm curious on the basis for Sawamura's choice. Iwa lied to me. Why should I make him my successor?" Tooru says, leveling an expectant look at the cat.

Despite his ire over being put forth as a candidate for consideration, the Grand King's words sting, and his gut twists on him like it has every time Tooru's reminded him of this fact.

"His exact words?" The cat asks before leaning forward on his elbows to continue without prompting. "'There is no one else who could be more loyal to the Grand King's bloodline. Iwaizumi did his best to serve _both_ father and son even when they were at utter odds, risking his own life to maintain a treasonous connection to a unit guilty of desertion. To ensure that Tooru's son _lived_ and that he'd be available to help should Kageyama have needed aid without regard of the consequences he might bear—and all for the sake of the Grand King's eventual reconciliation and peace of mind, is a mark of the greatest devotion. Tooru will find _no one_ else more fit to take up his mantle.'" The rookery leader blinks before his brows draw down in a frown.

"Iwa still lied to me. He kept the knowledge of Tobio's location from me. Even let me fear he was dead. Would you rely on someone who betrayed you like that?"

Hajime does his damnedest not to let his gut pinch at the words; they are true after all. The black cat leans back, sprawling casually in his chair with an amused upturn of his mouth.

"That would depend." The sentry leader sees a muscle leap at the corner of the rookery leader's eye.

"On what, Cat?"

"On the circumstances surrounding that choice, Crow. Did you ever ask _why_ he kept it from you?" The cat says bluntly, purposely mirroring the Grand King's rude address.

Tooru almost looks like he wants to rattle off a burning retort before he pauses, the black cat's words getting through. Hajime wants to curse as he sees it register, sees the Grand King's brow crinkle in a slight frown, sees his sorrel gaze seek him out as he turns to look at him expectantly.

But as much as Hajime is finished with lying, this is one thing he will not volunteer. He will _not_ parade his deepest motivations and reasons around as if they should be considered points in his favor. He isn't standing beside the Grand King after everything that's happened because he seeks recognition or military experience or to usurp Tooru's position, and it certainly isn't because he wants Kageyama's place. He doesn't. He never did. He stays beside the rookery leader because he is a worthy king and a good man despite all his shortcomings. Hajime will follow him because he is a great ruler that he's sure no successor will measure up to. There is no one else he'd want to guide the rookery into the future.

And when Tooru tires of his company, Hajime will accept that with grace even if it isn't what he wants. He has no idea how long the Grand King will keep him around, honestly believes he'd have been executed by now for his role in this mess but for his connection to Kageyama. He will not vaunt his loyalty to the rookery leader in a bid to prolong his life, for it is not his to fight for; that privilege belongs to Tooru, and Tooru alone, and if he commands Hajime to die, then die he will.

"Iwa?" The rookery leader's prompt forces his eyes to the floor, but he keeps silent. He has nothing to say. The Grand King looks back at the black cat, and when Hajime looks up once more, his face is contorted with dangerous suspicion.

"What did you do to him." He growls, and Hajime is quietly stunned at the rise of aggression on his behalf, the complete discard of that mask altogether.

"Do?" Kuroo asks with a surprised expression. "We tied him up for a bit, but we didn't _do_ anything to him." He says before leaning forward almost conspiratorially, his elbows dropping on the table, his hands coming together in a relaxed clasp as he stares back at the Grand King. "We simply told him that if he didn't keep our location a secret, we'd ice _you_."

Several long moments pass where Tooru watches Kuroo with a slack jaw, before glancing back at Hajime with wide eyes. For his part, the sentry leader can't unstick his feet from their place on the floor, his entire body rigid. This was one of the few things he'd omitted when he'd told the Grand King _everything_ he possibly could. This and Feathers' location. Tooru's gaze drops into a frown before he looks back at the black cat who watches him calmly.

"You were going to kill me." He says skeptically. Hajime tenses slightly when Kuroo's mouth turns up at the corner.

"Is it that unbelievable? We made it into the rookery, into the military compound, into your main garrison all unnoticed. How hard would it have been to simply walk the next twenty feet to your study?

"I know that you keep your quill on the left side of your desk and you favor milk bread. You stare at an aged Volley game ball in the corner of your room an inordinate amount of time, and you throw arrowheads at the tapestry on the south wall with a fervent dislike when you are annoyed—but never in front of another person. Would you like to know how far of a drop it is from the rafters to your chair? Be careful, Grand King. We haven't shelved the idea yet."

If it's possible, Hajime's limbs seize even more and his heart races as he watches the rookery leader dart a glance to the ceiling, his face smoothing into an unreadable expression. And for a moment, his head is filled with images of the number of dead snakes they'd found at the nest holding point up by Ivoya; there had been over fifty and he has to wonder how many of those were the black cat's doing.

He's always had the feeling Kuroo was dangerous, but the cat is coming out swinging and it's disconcerting at the very least. He's sure the Grand King has seen his fair share of threats in his day but Hajime knows that he's definitely hearing _this_ one, because that flat look—he's only seen it one other time: the day Kageyama fled with the shrimp.

"You want me to declare Iwa my successor." He states coldly and Kuroo sits back once more with a shrug.

"Name who you like. _I_ could get along with _Iwa_. But without it, Feathers won't budge." Hajime wants to argue, but the Grand King's voice cuts across the room, razor sharp and brittle.

"I will not force Iwa into that position. I did that with Tobio and look where we are."

The sentry leader's voice catches in his throat and his gaze snaps to the rookery leader's face. Tooru's sorrel eyes are set with icy resolution, his face laxed into a dangerous neutrality that makes Hajime think that he's seeing nothing but sincerity.

And the words he's just spoken… Hajime doesn't think he could speak even if he were ordered to. The Grand King has all but said that he will not push Hajime away like he did with Kageyama, will not repeat the mistake and alienate him as well. Which means Tooru doesn't intend to disband or discard him, won't use him as just another tool—is willing to fight for him. Which means that despite _everything_ , the Grand King still values his presence.

"How's it feel having no control and being at another's mercy? Funny how priorities change when the plan goes to hell, isn't it?" The black cat says with a smirk. The rookery leader's face goes glacial.

"I will not ask Iwa to bear that burden." The black cat's head tilts, his uneven gaze flickering.

"But Kageyama was somehow expendable?" He challenges quietly and Hajime's brow darkens, his anger overriding his composure once again.

Before he can catch himself, he steps forward, his fist dropping to the table with a resounding crack through the room making all four of the other occupants jump.

"You overstep, Kuroo." He snaps and the cat's eyes lock on him with glittering anger, but he could care less. Hajime is mad enough that even the rookery leader's disapproving interjection is ignored before it's even fully out.

"Iwa—"

"Kageyama has never been expendable; if he were, the Grand King wouldn't be fighting so hard for him now. Leading the rookery is a huge responsibility that can't be entrusted to just anyone; he'd spent _centuries_ preparing Kageyama to take over with all the best knowledge and tools at his hands for that very reason. I didn't retrieve my king for this meeting so you could threaten and provoke him at every turn; mind your remarks, _Cat_." He growls.

The cat's uneven gaze that is narrowed on him with acute displeasure is unnerving, but he will not stand by while the feline launches insult after insult toward the Grand King.

"Then how about you? You sound like you've been to very few meetings between key figures; threats and provocation are the breadth of these conversations. Pipe down while Mom and Dad talk, huh?" He remarks dryly and Hajime wants to punch him.

"Kuroo, I swear—"

" _Iwa."_

There's a hard edge to his name this time and he instantly falls silent. He straightens, his mouth forming a thin line, his anger _burning_ in his chest. The rookery leader _rarely_ gives him an order like this, unspoken as it might be behind the single word of the name the Grand King calls him by, and his entire being down to his core _hates_ it.

"Well, Great King, do you need more convincing? Your guard dog can't help himself; he breathes truth into Daichi's words with every one of his." Kuroo says looking back at Tooru. The Grand King's eyes drop to his hands with a slight frown, his mouth pursing on one corner.

"I will not relinquish my power to Iwa. I will not trade his devotion merely for the chance to see my son." He says quietly and Kuroo scoffs. The rookery leader's sorrel eyes rise to meet the black cat's once more with resonating disappointment.

"I guess I will have to wait for Tobio to decide otherwise."

Hajime blinks, the air catching in his lungs and his chest tightening. Negotiations are breaking down… but he can hardly think, the rookery leader's words skipping through his head. The Grand King has effectively chosen to protect him over meeting Kageyama once more, but his expression—there is no satisfaction there, only resignation.

Hajime understands now.

The Grand King wants more than anything to have a relationship with his son… but not at the expense of his relationship with Hajime. He's being set with an impossible decision: lose his closest confidant who's arguably grown closer to him than he's ever been with his own son, or face a future where he might _never_ see that son again. And he's choosing Hajime.

"What if you tentatively named someone?" The streaked owl says and the sentry leader mentally stumbles as Kuroo cuts a glare in his direction.

"Seriously, Bokuto."

"What? It was something Suga was talking about." The owl says defensively.

"You mean like conditionally appoint someone?" Hajime asks with a scowl, forgetting that he's supposed to stay silent.

"Conditional nomination allows it to be retracted which puts us right back at square one in a situation Feathers was adamant on avoiding _and_ we'd have given up our location. No." The black cat says, determined to shut down the idea off the bat.

"Naming a reserve heir with a contingency in place to retract the responsibility if it proves detrimental is a reasonable expectation." The ibis says and the black cat's expression goes black.

"Cat balls, whose side are you guys on here?" He mutters before setting Tooru with a flat look.

"Kageyama would never agree, so I cannot commit to it either."

The Grand King settles back in his chair, his entire frame losing all tension. A wistful smile tips his mouth, and Hajime wonders if he's trying to pull the mask that's been missing through a majority of the proceedings back into place. But with a quiet breath of amusement, Tooru's sorrel eyes simply drift back to his hands, the creases at their edges whispering of sorrow like he's only ever seen the few times when he's searched out the Grand King only to find him beside his wife and infant daughter's memory tree.

 _The Grand King is giving in_.

It hits Hajime like a fist to the gut.

"As you should." He murmurs softly. "Tell Tobio that if he ever changes his mind, he knows where to find us."

And for all his training, Hajime can't stand aside, can't let that expression remain on his king's face. The Grand King's order for silence a moment ago doesn't matter; he can't do it. A heavy breath leaves his lungs and Kuroo glances at him with misgiving.

"I'll do it." The words are dragged from his lungs like hot coals, drawing everyone's attention.

"What?" The cat says, a brow rising skeptically, but it's Tooru's wide eyed, horrified gaze that tugs at his chest.

"I'll take the nomination." The words drop without thought.

"Iwa—"

Hajime's brow furrows and he catches up the Grand King's shirt in his fist in an action he'd never have dared in all his centuries of serving him.

"I'm _not_ Kageyama. I never will be." He says forcefully and those brown eyes blink up at him owlishly.

"Of course, not, Iwa—"

"I don't know if I can fill the position as it should be, but I will try. Make the nomination." He says. Tooru's blown pupils watch him a few moments more before his mouth closes and his chin rises just a touch.

"No." Hajime blinks at him.

"What do you mean, 'No'? You will get to see Kageyama again."

"Not at the cost of you." Hajime scowls.

"If this is what is required, then I will do as you bid. You never shy from the hard decisions, don't start now." He says sharply. Tooru flinches, but his wide eyes never leave his face.

"Iwa…"

"Make the nomination." He repeats.

He doesn't want to rule, doesn't want to give orders instead of taking the Grand King's. He doesn't want to be any other place than at Tooru's side. But if this is what it takes to serve the rookery leader… Hajime levels a deadly serious look at the man he's always followed without question.

 _I will take the mantle and the responsibility. Reunite with Kageyama, Grand King. And never make that face again._

The rookery leader watches him for several moments before he finds the cat, his sorrel eyes searching through his own thoughts.

"I will not relinquish Iwaizumi for that purpose except on one condition." He says and when Hajime looks back at the cat, he's watching the Grand King guardedly.

"We're all ears."

"I will nominate Iwaizumi as reserve heir _only_ as a contingency plan in the event that I find no one else. I give my word that I will never reinstate Tobio for the position."

"I said before I can't commit to—"

"It's not an agreement. Take it back as a condition to the condition. I want you to take a letter with it and let Tobio decide from there."

"Seriously?" Kuroo says with a sigh, "You realize Feathers holds all the cards this time? No coercion or guilt trip in a letter will change that, and he will not be swayed by a counter condition."

"You are welcome to read it once he's finished if he so chooses. If Tobio is indeed well in your care, then the choice will be his without outside influence, neither yours nor _mine_ the exception. All I ask is that you inform me of his decision."

Kuroo runs a hand over his face before it slides back to cup the back of his neck and he glances at the ceiling in frustrated consideration. He groans out another heavy breath before dropping his head to the table.

"Alright." He murmurs, his voice slightly muffled. "I will take your letter back along with your proposition." The cat's uneven golden gaze flicks up at Hajime with annoyance.

"But I'm not a messenger, I'm a cat. I don't just come when called and I won't be commuting back and forth every time you idiot crows have a new idea. I know I used to frequent this place often enough back in the day plotting to make Feathers an orphan, but it's quite lost its appeal. I'll keep my companions, our home, and ground Volley; I dislike abandoning them, both for my own peace of mind and avoiding the chaos I will inevitably return to. The only reason I came this time was to actually meet your 'great leader' once in person. Getting to trade threats with the man who is the builder of empires and destroyer of lives has been a trip, but don't expect this to become a habit."

"You won't meet any resistance from me, Kuroo. I've told you every time you show up here how little I like your presence." Hajime grumbles, doing his level best to ignore the cat's continued barbs.

"Rude, Iwa. It has been enlightening speaking with Tobio's new guardian. I hope you were at least a good host for our guests." Just by the tone in the rookery leader's voice, Hajime knows his composure is back under control, his default mask back in place—meaning he must be satisfied with this outcome. He deadpans.

"They're still alive; hospitality served." He grouses.

"The least you could have done was get them a drink after coming all this way, or maybe something to eat that would make them feel at home."

"Maybe subtle enough of a probe for the streaked moron, but you won't catch Kuroo with it." The ibis murmurs with a most unimpressed look and the Grand King glances at him with a quirk of his mouth as Bokuto takes a half-assed swing at Tsukishima.

"This one's sharp, too, Iwa. What was he again?" Kuroo scoffs and gets to his feet, his eyes creasing with aggravation as he collars the streaked owl mid assault on the blond.

"Oi, Kuroo—"

"Shut up, Bokuto." The cat mutters crossly before fixing a lazily irritated grin on the Grand King where he watches with mild amusement from his seat. "You're as infuriating to deal with as the damn fox. Prepare your letter; we will be leaving as soon as I have it. Don't take it personally when I say I hope I never see you again, Grand King."

"Pity, because I find you _most_ interesting, Kuroo." He says with an answering smirk before following his lead and rising.

"Don't do anything stupid on your way home. It would be a shame if Kageyama somehow lost his new caretaker while on a trip to negotiate with his estranged father. That would have dire ramifications for everyone, I think." He says easily before offering another tense handshake and following Hajime out of the room and back to his own.

Hajime waits patiently while the rookery leader pens a letter. It doesn't take him long and there isn't an excess of ink filling the page by the time he folds it and hands it to Hajime, a faraway look in his gaze.

"Tobio is safe with the cat, isn't he Iwa." Tooru says as he takes it from him. It's not a question the way he says it, more of a lament, and Hajime knows that not all of Kuroo's words had rolled off him as cleanly as he'd have him believe.

"He was fine when I saw him, and Kuroo takes his lead from him with regard to rookery matters. The cat leads by default, but has little issue stepping aside for another to front their knowledge or experience, I think. Kuroo let me live when I found them because Kageyama asked." He says, hating to admit that, but wanting to reassure Tooru all the same.

"Iwa." Hajime pauses as he turns to leave, letter in hand, and glances back. The king's face is missing the mask again, that wistful smile back in place, but the creases at the corners of his eyes… they whisper of hope now.

"Sir?" He asks and Tooru's mouth quirks.

"Thank you."

Two weeks later, a raven arrives bearing not Iwaizumi's name, but the Grand King's. And Hajime is privileged to see the watery look of relieved joy that overtakes his features as he reads it before handing it to the sentry leader. On it are two lines of scrawl in simple, rounded script, a mere fifteen words:

 _Volley rematch; Spring Solstice. Details following your return from migration. We won't lose._

Hajime glances up at the rookery leader, his jaw hanging slightly. The Grand King smiles, a real one, deep and content.

"Iwa… that is my son's hand. Tobio wrote that message."

A/N: Another LONG chapter (alomst 9000 words) and Well... Oikawa is still OC and the bane of my writer existence. This chapter is drastically different from how it started. Like, i virtually scrapped three fourths of it and started new- The second scene didn't even exist in my head until a week ago when i had people who were like 'I want to see a meeting between Kuroo and Oikawa', and I was like...HOLY SHIT, SO DO I... but I have no idea how that would go down. It took me until LATE last night to finally get it all hammered out nicely, but I think I'm satisfied with it. On the bright side, Seattle had a snow day, so I had all day to format and polish it a bit- and neglect everything else that I should have been doing instead XD

My apologies for the wait... My inspiration has been lagging a bit and I think it definitely showed in the last chap especially, and I wanted this one to be better. This is the final official 'chapter' of Horizon; the next one is the epilogue and since I rehashed this one instead of working out that one, it's going to take me a few days to post it. Again, I apologize for the delay; I hope this makes up for it ;)  
Have a brilliant evening you guys!


	37. Epilogue Moirai's Promise

**EPILOGUE Moirai's Promise**

Life doesn't give you the people you want, it gives you the people you need: to love you, to hate you, to make you, to break you, and to make you the person you were meant to be. ~Walt Whitman

We are the story we tell ourselves. ~Jason Robinson

~Fifty Years Later, Summer's End~

Kiyoko steps out of the steaming kitchen into the late summer breeze for a moment, the breath of fresh air cool across her sweat streaked skin as a group of cats wanders by, excited for tonight's kickoff match to start the fall tournament.

She spies Yachi anxiously going over the team matchup schedule with a gull, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi hanging close. She can hear Kuroo barking at Bokuto because 'that doesn't go there, Bro! I told you, that one needs to go by ground net three'. She can see Kageyama and Hinata happily pumping up balls and making sure they are all the right pressure. She smiles softly and her eyes crease with amusement as she spies the red mark on the crow setter's neck when the redhead's gaze strays to it with a secret grin; she's pretty sure Feathers has no idea it's there or he'd be a lot more salty than that small content smile says he is. Beside them, Natsu plays with an infant crow who babbles incoherently, a happy accident only a few years old, born the first child to Ukai and Saeko.

The baby girl doesn't even have teeth yet, but her cute little wings make her surprisingly mobile, and the younger redhead sibling keeps an ever-careful watch over her until one of her parents returns to pick her up later in the day. Kiyoko's smile reaches up into her eyes, because those two as parents had been unthinkable even ten years ago; they'd only tied the knot a couple decades before and it had been almost comical when they'd discovered Saeko was pregnant. Both had looked so helplessly terrified at the very _idea_ of a baby even as Tanaka had happily congratulated them.

But it had been precious to see them both look at their newborn with complete adoration, Ukai even reaching out to take the baby with infinite care and awe before looking back up at Saeko with the same tender expression. They'd proved to be wonderful parents if a little unprepared, and seeing either one of them with their fledgling daughter was almost murderously cute. The little girl is loved by everyone—even the ibis has volunteered himself and Yamaguchi for babysitting duty on occasion. The infant has enjoyed the company of the entire beach crew almost like a second family, and she can often be found in their care on busy days at Ukai's shop—like today.

Kiyoko idly pushes a stray damp lock behind her ear.

It's been fifty years since that first official match was held at the beach between themselves and the Grand King's team.

That first spring bout had been tense to say the least, the whole beach crew and even most of _Sheru_ _Bay_ on edge at their presence. It wasn't very often the small coastal port had even _one_ sentry, and they'd suddenly been taken off guard with not only an entire unit, but the rookery leader himself along with his entourage. Really it was only some fifteen people or so, but Kuroo had been livid because 'they'd agreed on _ten and no more_ , dammit.'

The Grand King had come ready to play his first match in five years according to Iwaizumi. The sentry leader himself had been promoted to heir apparent; a position the crow had had no small amount of dislike for and had never failed to inform the Grand King as such. The rookery leader had lined up as setter across from his son, Iwa's unit making up the rest of his team. For their part, it was mostly just the former first unit that made up Kageyama's team, the only exception being Tsukishima who helped fill the other middle position so they could use Noya in his element as libero.

The match itself had been exciting to watch, and Kiyoko had privately been relieved when it was over; she'd doubted her heart could have handled much more.

The Grand King was clever and sharp, attentive and focused, and within only a few volleys he'd been able to find the weaknesses with their rotation setup and had actively worked to exploit both them and the shortcomings of individual players. Kageyama's team had answered with its adaptability and their adamant determination to connect. They'd been practicing all through the winter to the point where they worked fluidly, a sentient system of gears operating smoothly to turn the plays; they weren't completely polished and seamless yet, but it had been enough. The final score had been Kageyama's team on top by three points.

The Grand King had stayed for a couple days more, engaging in more aerial scrimmages and watching their ground Volley matches with bright intrigue. He'd even had Iwaizumi's wings bound so he could try it out, much to the cow's sincerely salty opposition. It had been little surprise when they'd received a raven a week after the Grand King had left asking if they couldn't send a couple people back to the rookery to work with Iwa's unit so they could play the ground game with them the next time they came to Sheru Bay. He'd even made a point of specifically requesting Kuroo; the black cat had blanked when Kageyama had read the missive before doubling over in cynical laughter.

"I used to visit the rookery plotting to off any passing crow I saw, and now I'm being _summoned_ for the esteemed purpose of teaching the first unit ground Volley. The universe definitely has a sense of humor." He'd groused.

In the end, the cat hadn't been moved and it had been Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and the owls who'd gone back to work with Iwa's unit. The prospect had nearly been enough to convince the black cat to join them anyway just for his own peace of mind; none of them had been entirely comfortable being in the rookery, invited or not.

But when the Grand King had requested another match in the fall before migration, they'd played both aerial and ground. After centuries of animosity, it had done wonders for breaking social barriers between the cats and the sentries, and they'd spent as much time playing ground as they had playing aerial. And the tradition had begun: a spring and fall tournament at the beach became almost a religion with more than just them and the Grand King's teams playing after only a couple years.

Since then, the tournaments have virtually exploded.

They'd expanded into a third tourney at midsummer that coincided with one of Sheru Bay's local festivals and just recently, a winter ground one. There are nearly two hundred participants for this year's fall herald tournament, and over twenty-five teams competing. It had grown so out of hand that they'd had to start charging admission.

The influx of people coming for tournaments had inundated Sheru Bay at first since the little port was still recovering from the earthquake and tsunami. Within fifteen years, the town had nearly doubled in size, it's small sea port becoming crowded to the point that it had needed to be expanded. Ukai's shop had become a favorite hangout after games and Saeko would grumble about the dinner rush before fetching her brother to help.

Since they ran both ground and air Volley brackets, they'd had teams from all walks request an invitation. Whenever they had a new team show up wanting to play, they were always referred to Shouyou for the final decision… which was virtually pointless as he generally welcomed everyone regardless.

A group of gulls that just wanted to play an exhibition air match?

 _No problem! We do a few before official tournament matches start if you want to get a feel for them._

The wolf group that showed up with only four people, but wondering if they were still allowed?

 _Sure! We always have extra people! You gotta be okay if they're cats, though._

Even when Bokuto had tentatively directed a standoffish group of inquisitive owls toward him?

 _Why not, Bokuto? Maybe you can start your own owl team!_

It was rare that the bright little redhead ever refused anyone… but it did happen. When a group of snakes had showed up, he'd flatly refused, leaving them standing quite bewildered. Most of the snake trafficking network had been eradicated by that point thanks to Iwaizumi's crusade, but the memory of a pinioned sister and people in cages bound for slavery had yet to fade in Shouyou's head. In the end, it had been Natsu who'd overruled him, permitting them to play and penciling them into a bracket. She was probably the _only_ person who'd have ever been able to get her brother to acquiesce on that particular matter.

The beach crew was always in the running for at least top five in either bracket, always a powerful opponent, and the team to beat as they were hosting. In fifty years of tournaments, Kageyama's team had only lost to the Grand King's eight times, three of them because they were missing one of the key players that made them so formidable.

When Noya'd broken his hand on a dive that had been far closer to the ground than he'd realized and Yaku had already been signed to two ground teams, they'd felt the loss of his powerhouse defense capabilities keenly. When Hinata'd injured the main extensor ligament in one of his large black wings less than a week before the midsummer competition a few years back, he'd only been able to play in the ground bracket and the entire aerial team had somehow lacked its usual fire. Tanaka's sister had chosen the day they'd played the rookery's first unit in the spring ground tourney to go into labor. And they'd had one _real_ scare when Daichi had almost croaked with a wicked fever a month before and hadn't been back at one-hundred percent by the time they'd had to play.

So, kind of almost four times?

The strict Karasuno lineup had largely disintegrated in recent years as they'd integrated more tournaments, though, and more and more, they favored the quicker and more exciting ground games where momentum could swing from one side to the other in a single rally. It wasn't that unusual for the cats, owls, crows, and songbirds to all play on one team—particularly in the ground brackets. And as more and more avians from the rookery began participating, more and more of them had taken to the ground game which only made it that much more interesting; they'd actually had to instate a ref for the purpose of enforcing the no-fly rule with the repercussion of either sitting out the match or playing the remainder with bound wings if called for it. The Grand King had even joked that they'd corrupted the rookery youth because more kids had been more excited to learn ground volley than aerial in the last few years.

But while the teams frequently rearranged themselves, there were always certain pairs that never played apart. Bokuto and Akaashi had yet to play on separate teams since that match against Iwaizumi's unit, Noya and Asahi's names never appeared on the rosters anywhere except next to each other's, and of course, there was the freak duo who were virtually joined at the hip. Honestly, Kiyoko couldn't remember the last time Shouyou had hit anyone else's tosses even in practice.

There were also Kuroo and Tsukishima who didn't mind _not_ playing with their respective other halves, but were ever careful to never wind up across the net from them. And then there were Daichi and Suga and Lev and Yaku… Daichi had remarked once, much to Suga's amusement, that they were adults and refusing to play on opposite sides was childish; Yaku on the other hand, had been far less benign about his reasons. He'd simply been straight up stoked to be able to shut his leveler down at any opportunity, the grey cat always more than game for the challenge.

Little Natsu had even started playing with the tutelage of her leveler, her brother, the avian heir, Kenma, and Noya. She was well rounded, but small, her power and jumping capability not nearly as honed as Shouyou's. It made sense; the redhead had been playing this game for centuries, so he'd had a ridiculous edge on her there. Instead, she'd gravitated toward Kageyama, Kenma, and Noya, and had frequently been playing in their little scrimmages as either a setter or libero. She'd rapidly progressed much like Hinata did, and she'd gotten quite skilled at blending in well with the team such that it was eerie to realize that she was actually only an adolescent playing with considerably older peers.

This year would be the first that she'd been placed onto a tournament team and Kiyoko could tell that she was as amped about it as the rest of the beach crew and none more than Tanaka; she would be the first girl to _really_ start playing with them after all. Kiyoko and Yachi could bounce a ball around, had even joined in the occasional lazy light matches in the high heat of summer at the boys' prompting, but the younger redhead was as much a spitfire for the sport as any of the others. As Kiyoko heads for the bunting, she smiles once more as Natsu coo's at Saeko and Ukai's little girl with a happy grin, the baby laughing ecstatically.

"How's it coming?" She asks lightly and Yachi looks up at her with a sweet smile.

"Oh! This guy was wondering if we could still get another team into the aerial bracket. Yaku put that one together this year, so I was trying to figure out how he did it so I didn't mess it all up." She'd said and Kiyoko glances up at the gull beside her and Yamaguchi.

"Cutting it a little close, aren't you? First match kicks off tonight in only a few hours." She asks, an eyebrow rising slightly.

"So long as they aren't in that match, it shouldn't be a problem, right? That's the opening match and the only one tonight." Yamaguchi says looking up. Kiyoko considers before nodding, her eyes dropping to the bracket.

"I think he lined them up by last year's final ranking every other slot with the far left open for new teams… if you can find a place to pencil them in there, that would probably be best." She says and the gull smiles gratefully with a bow before turning away.

"We will have uneven teams then; someone will have a bye round." Yamaguchi says as he analyzes the bracket.

"It can't be helped." She murmurs; she knows that byes are an unpopular part of the bracket system because one team will enter the second round fresh while their opponent will have already played a full match, giving the team with the bye the advantage of full energy.

"Perhaps we can fix it." A deep voice says behind her, it's rigidity and flat baritone making her feathers prickle.

Apparently, she isn't the only one; Yachi jumps and Yamaguchi's head snaps up as she turns to face the new voice. Her head tips back. The man in front of her is almost as tall as lev but with olive eyes instead of emerald, his frame massive, his enormous white wings even larger than Hinata's.

 _Eagle._

This guy and the five people beside him are eagles. They are a ways from home, she knows, but she'd recognize the wings of the northern Sky King's race any day. It didn't matter where she was, she doubted she'd _not_ be able to pick them out. He watches her with a flat expression before looking toward Yamaguchi.

"We've been hearing about these tournaments, and decided to come this year. We can fill your bye space." His address to the freckled crow over her and the bunting feels like a snub and her spine straightens. Tension curling in her gut, she clears her throat lightly and firmly meets his gaze when he looks back at her the way Kuroo had told her.

"I don't know if we've ever had eagles play before. You will have to check with Hinata if it's alright." She says.

"Oooh, do we have to pass a test?" A wild haired redhead that is nearly as tall as the eagle in front of her says from his shoulder with an unnerving leering grin. She mentally clamps down on her nerves.

"Not so much as you simply have to see if he's okay with it. It's just one of the things about our tournaments. I wouldn't worry too much. He rarely denies anyone." She says in a clipped tone before she turns and points toward the two siblings and Kageyama surrounded by balls.

"He's over there." She says before turning back to the bracket dismissively.

As the large man heads off in their direction after a pause, she lets out the slightest sigh. She had no fondness for eagles. They weren't the worst thing she'd encountered, but they always seemed to have an infuriating air of superiority in general and a tendency to be controlling in her experience. But then, her _experiences_ were probably a very narrow worldview and she should probably try to let that bias go.

She draws a deep breath before picking up a quill and leaning across the table to fill in the opposing empty slot in the aerial bracket to the one from the gulls a few minutes before. She's halfway through the word when a sharp curse from Kageyama makes her jerk, smearing a large ugly streak of ink across two more bracket lines.

"No way in _hell_."

The quiet refusal leaves the Hinata's mouth in the silence that permeates the beach in the wake of Feathers' expletive.

Kiyoko blinks before whipping around to see what is wrong. She can't see the eagle's face, but she sees the maniacal fire in the redhead's, is positive that if she'd seen that side of him the first time she'd laid eyes on him—or even maybe in the first few days after they'd joined them, that she'd have quietly tried to slip away with Yachi during the night.

She and the bunting had been under pursuit when they'd happened upon two crows, a redhead, and an ibis in the busy market of a larger port town further north. Kiyoko had been desperate enough at the time to seek out their help—the assistance of four _men_ , a complete gamble on their personalities. The one thing that had made her take that risk on _them_ as opposed to anyone else was the way the redhead—who was, in fact, a _grounded_ crow as they'd found out later, but _not_ actually a _crow_ as they'd found out since—had been pouting about having pork curry _again_ in a far too familiar way with the scowly crow while the ibis had looked on with the occasional jab at their expense.

The redhead's expressions had been far too innocent and bright—like Yachi's… and she'd trusted Yachi. When she'd heard the freckled crow ask where they were going to stay and the blue-eyed grouchy one murmur something about probably somewhere south a few leagues, she'd acted, because that meant they were _traveling_ and wouldn't be intending to stay. If she and Yachi could acquire a 'group' instead of being a 'pretty female crow and a cute little bunting', she'd hoped they'd blend in and be easier to miss—and their destination wouldn't be 'theirs', so hopefully much less predictable. She'd caught the redhead's sleeve, because he'd seemed by far the safest one to ask.

"My apologies, but I overheard that you are going south? Can we join you?" She'd asked only to find almond eyes blinking up at her in owlish alarm—because he _was_ actually shorter than her. He'd pressed backward into the grouchy crow who'd abruptly adopted a hardline glare, his arm wrapping around him in a curiously protective gesture while the other crow and ibis had moved closer to them.

"I don't—"

"Why do you want to come with _us_?" The cranky crow had cut the smaller redhead off.

Her head had tilted, because the suspicion had seemed out of place; these guys weren't much older than herself, and she and Hitoka were two girls, what were they so nervous about? And that informal contact…an idea had popped into her head. She'd subconsciously found Yachi behind her with a hand, pulling her closer, determined to see if she could get them in with this group of avians.

"We're going in the same direction… I just thought it would be safer if we traveled with you instead of alone." She'd murmured, her eyes dropping demurely.

She was sure she'd pulled the look off flawlessly like they'd been trained, but it had failed completely in its purpose of getting them to drop their guard or even put them at ease. Instead the redhead had perked up and cautiously found Yachi pressed into her side, her face still shadowed by the travel cloak Kiyoko'd gotten for her.

He'd carefully pushed out of the crow's arms, his almond eyes darting up at her before fixing back on the bunting. Kiyoko had mentally apologized for letting the boy zero in on her like that, for using her to achieve the end goal of joining them, but she'd seen no other way. He'd cautiously peered up into her hood before a smile had bloomed on his face and he'd turned back to the salty crow.

"She's cute!" He'd said brightly, the compliment just that, no matter how Kiyoko had tensed and searched the tone and expression for anything more. He'd turned back to her with such a smile that it had made her wonder where he'd grown up that he was still so naïve to wear that expression.

"What's your name?"

The bunting had glanced at her nervously, but when Kiyoko hadn't offered any warning, she'd turned back shyly.

"Y… Yachi, Hitoka." She'd squeaked. His smile had only widened before he'd turned toward her with that dazzling grin and she'd almost flinched at the open look, the genuine curiosity almost scalding in its purity.

"Shimizu, Kiyoko." She'd managed.

His head had tilted and Kiyoko hadn't been able to hold his gaze for too long before she was looking at Yachi, the others, anywhere but that brilliant set of almond eyes, because if she had, she was sure he'd have seen the chaos behind her own. He'd turned back to the crow, his smile never fading.

"I think they'd be okay, Kageyama. They seem nice."

"Nice isn't necessarily _safe_." He'd grumbled.

"Aw, come on, moron. Yachi wouldn't be one and not every crow is a sentry—"

The ibis had pointedly cleared his throat, but she'd deduced just from that remark that they were also under pursuit. She'd had mixed emotions on that, but could hardly complain for their own situation.

"You might have _him_ whipped but you seem to be forgetting one critical detail, Shrimp." The salty crow had scoffed at the ibis' jab, and the redhead's face had puffed into a scowling pout.

"What, that you're still here?" He'd mumbled.

"You're still going to have to get this past Kuroo." The blond had said blandly and Kiyoko had had a moment of misgiving. This hadn't been their entire party? The redhead had huffed with mild annoyance.

"Kenma will say okay, so Kuroo will, too." He'd said before he'd paused. "Oh, but…" He'd turned back toward them and Kiyoko hadn't known what to make of that 'but'. "You'll have to be okay with cats." He'd finished with another enthusiastic smile.

She'd had _so_ many doubts those first few days after joining three cats, three crows—one of them grounded, and a surprisingly snarky ibis. The one who'd easily set her on edge the most had been the large black feline, and she'd been uneasy at first with each new male addition since.

She knows now that she needn't have worried about any of them, the hunch on Hinata and Kageyama based on that first familiar touch between them confirmed before the day had been out. Despite the wariness she'd held onto around the others, she'd felt in her gut after seeing the redhead's leveler glow that she and Yachi could maybe… maybe be safe with these people.

The redhead had trusted them without question, and it had nearly floored Kiyoko that there hadn't been anything else behind that decision aside from blind trust. It was something that had resurfaced again and again with Hinata.

The cats, Kuroo especially, were safe, because Shouyou deemed them so. No one questioned whether Natsu was _really_ Hinata's sister, because he'd said she was. Kageyama had bent and sent his father the invitation for the spring match, because the redhead had insisted that the Grand King was sincere. Perhaps one of the biggest examples had been the owls—a species reviled as unpredictably violent and often avoided by all other races, they'd welcomed Bokuto and Akaashi because Shouyou'd seen no threat.

It's something she's seen time and again. No matter what it is, if Hinata believes it, then it is so.

And because Shouyou believed it, so did they. They all bought in to his single-minded faith—whether to their benefit or detriment didn't matter. Hinata's vision was blind to differences, his tolerance on a level that defied reason. When Hinata evaluated someone, it was without bias… which often made his analysis of others more sound than even Kuroo's. It was that inherently open disposition that had taken all of them from cautious, wary individuals to the tight nit family they'd become.

It was Shouyou's brightly impartial and forward looking focus that had ensnared her and Yachi along for the ride of their lives. It had taken an embarrassing amount of time to realize who Kageyama and Hinata were and _why_ they'd had sentries after them—really, it wasn't actually until the rest of their unit had shown up and she'd overheard them talking about the Grand King and 'your father' before she'd put two and two together and the enormity of it had hit her.

Somewhere in the fringes of her awareness, she'd picked up news along the way about the rookery heir having disappeared; she'd just been so worried about her and Yachi's plight that she'd never realized how close to that story she'd been. She'd never even picked up that they were former sentries at all.

But… she can see it now.

Hinata had been trained alongside Kageyama and the others in the former first unit, had seen very real violence and confrontation since. He stands straight now, shoulders rigid, stance set just wide enough to indicate that he's prepared for anything, his wings pulled to attention, his burning gaze fixed fearlessly up at the eagle that easily dwarfs him. What's more, Kageyama stands defensively between the large man and the redhead, his face holding nothing but singular ferocity. She and Yachi weren't with them in the snake nest; she's never seen them like this…

 _They're terrifying_.

Gone is the sunny optimism from Shouyou and the annoyed frown has fled Feathers' face. In their place is nothing but cold calculation, systematic analysis of their opponent, and frozen expressions of supreme and serious wrath. They almost don't look human anymore, and certainly not like the Hinata and Kageyama she's come to know. Her muscles go weak when Hitoka leaves her side in a mad dash toward them, and she's instantly stumbling after her, her hand outstretched.

"Yachi—" She yelps, but the bunting darts forward around the eagles and snatches Natsu by the arm, the infant crow still in her grasp.

The blond tugs her to her feet and away from the tense standoff, Kiyoko's heart stuttering as she reaches them. She takes the baby girl from the wide-eyed redhead, and latches onto her shirt to pull her farther back, knowing Hitoka is right at her elbow.

"Frѐ?" She squeaks, but neither of the level pair even glance their way.

"Why the hostile reception? Why the refusal?" The large eagle asks, his tone hinting at annoyance. Hinata's chin rises.

"Why? Heh… white wings." He says, a curiously satirical smile splitting his face and Kiyoko's hair stands on end.

 _White wings_.

The person who'd attacked Hinata and Kageyama… had had white wings.

"No way." Says one of the other eagles, his wings rustling in agitation as his jaw drops.

He's smaller than the leader, wavy black hair that reaches his shoulders his most defining feature, his eyes a bleak brown that carry very little expression at all despite the slight upturn of his mouth. The large eagle turns toward him with a questioning look.

"What?"

"No _fucking_ way." He repeats, his mouth curling a little more. "Wakatoshi, this kid is the rookery heir."

The large eagle's brows rise, but it's the red haired one that whips back toward Kageyama and Hinata, his expression almost predatorily excited.

"Really? We could crush the southern rookery prince in a Volley match? Oh, that sounds like fun! Wakatoshi, fix it. I want to play!"

"Nice to see you haven't forgotten." Hinata's dead voice cuts through the air, sharp as a blade and directed at the longer haired eagle.

"Wait, if this is the crow prince, then you…" The guy steps forward slightly, his face creasing in perplexed confusion, his eyes straying to Hinata's wings, and Shimizu _knows_ just by that glance that _this_ was the white winged asshole.

Hinata was the center of the misfit beach group, the reason they'd all ended up here, whether he ever realized it or not. His welcoming openness had created the opportunity for them all to meet, his tolerance and kindness made it possible to live together. More than anyone else among them, he failed to see the differences between them, held no prejudice against anyone. Without him, she doubts any of them would have found themselves in the same place today.

And here was the man who'd threatened that. Here was the eagle who'd hurt that brilliant connection they all shared, the person who'd taken the sky from the redhead and nearly killed him, the reason Kageyama's wings were tipped white. He was the one who'd broken and dimmed their own personal ball of sunshine. Here was the person who'd nearly ended everything the beach crew has before it ever even had a chance.

"Yeah, I've got those back, too. Should we find out how good you actually are when you attack someone head on?" Hinata asks, his head canting. The large eagle turns back to the longer haired one.

"What's this about, Utsui?" The olive-eyed eagle asks and the guy's mouth clicks shut.

"This kid shouldn't have wings…shouldn't even be _alive_ ," He says looking between the redhead and the lead eagle, "Hey, Wakatoshi, they're a _long_ way from home. This is the perfect opportunity—"

"I would slaughter that thought before you complete it if I were you." An icy voice cuts in, and Shimizu turns to find the black cat over her shoulder, his expression utterly black.

She almost wants to breathe a sigh of relief. Kuroo had a way of making everything just somehow 'work out', she wants to believe it will be no different this time. As every eagle turns to stare at him, he places a light hand on Kiyoko's shoulder as he steps around her, his eyes trained on 'Wakatoshi'.

"Yachi, send a runner for Ukai. Tell him he needs to come retrieve his daughter immediately. Then I want you to fly for the others in town." He tells the bunting without breaking eye contact with the large avian before he comes to a stop just ahead of Kiyoko and Natsu. The small blond leaps to comply, ducking away from them with a stumble.

"I would be _very_ careful how you proceed, because you are not among friends here." The cat says and for a moment, Kiyoko blinks.

Her eyes dart around and she sees the way the entire beach has gone still, the other teams that were out for a light practice the night before the tournament began in earnest all staring, Bokuto and Akaashi dropping beside her with an unusual tension for them.

"It might also be of interest to you to know that the Grand King and an entire battalion are on their way here from the rookery as we speak. You are lucky they have yet to arrive or they'd have made a bid to execute you already—which would be a shame really; we have yet to taint our beach with some sap's blood, and it would be nice to keep it that way, especially in the spirit of a Volley tournament." He says evenly.

Wakatoshi turns toward him, sensing the automatically commanding air the black cat has about him.

"We are only here to play. It's why we came." He says and Kuroo's head tilts.

"See the only issue with that is _Utsui_ is the one that was responsible for Hinata's losing his wings. It's a little tough to believe you are 'only here to play'—and Hinata determines who plays in any case." He says dryly. The large avian glances back at Shouyou with a frown before scoffing.

"I can see you are blind, so I will assume that is an oversight on your part; he clearly has wings. Utsui didn't do it. Unless you are saying he magically regrew them." He says, impatience creeping into his voice, but the cat doesn't even react to the slight.

"A process that took _years_ …" Hinata bites out before turning and pulling his shirt off, "would you like to know how painful it was?" He asks, glancing back at them, that psychotic look only intensifying.

And there down his back are the twin scars from where they broke free of his skin, still glaring against the clear pale expanse of his spine and ribs. Kiyoko sucks in a breath, because Hinata might freely pull his shirt for the simple scrimmages and practices they do at home here when it's just them, but he rarely does in the company of people he isn't familiar with. For a long moment, the only sound on the beach is the waves crashing against the sand.

"Even if that's true, it's in the past and you aren't missing them anymore. We heard the competition here was good. We came to play." He says, almost sounding disdainfully bored.

"Then maybe he'd consider letting you and the other four play and bar only the one." Kuroo says coolly. "I doubt you will get much more of a break."

The large avian turns toward the cat with a dark scowl.

"Bar one of our players, and then call it a victory when you win over five; how typical of a lesser species. It won't work—we can play just as well minus one. Volley is a sport for the strong, it was obviously a mistake in coming here." Kageyama scoffs, his glare dropping even more with fury.

"Keep your last person."

The beach freezes for a second time and all eyes turn to Hinata. He stares up at the large eagle brazenly, his almond eyes snapping with rabid ire. The eagle stares down at him as Kageyama looks at him sharply.

And slowly, the faintest smile tips Feathers' face.

"Kiyoko." Hinata says without looking away from Wakatoshi and she jumps. "Scratch the two teams kicking off tonight and inform them they will lead off tomorrow morning at sunrise." He says, his voice utterly devoid of anything except flat finality.

"O-of course." She stumbles.

"You get one match, best two sets out of three. _If_ … you can beat us, I will leave the decision up to Kuroo on whether to let you compete in the actual tournament. But it won't matter whether you have five people or the full six team; there's no way we'll lose to you."

As her quill stops on the crisp page in front of her, Kiyoko sits back with a breath of content.

It's been two days since the final tournament match was held, and as exciting as the games are, she's quite happy for the peace and quiet. She idly skims the lines, her thoughts drifting. Kiyoko draws in a deep breath before quietly letting it back out.

The match against the eagles had been easily the most nerve racking game she'd ever experienced, agonizing in every facet. Keeping the two teams from trading threats both before and during had been hell for Kuroo—probably because there were plenty of his own that he'd have liked to throw at them, Kiyoko knew.

Tanaka and Noya had had to be restrained more than once, and even Asahi had seemed reluctant to collar them. Tsukishima had said very little when Hinata had asked him to play with them, his perfected poker face bored expression almost ingrained into his facial muscles even though his eyes had crackled with a dangerous focus like they didn't even see when he stood across the net from Kageyama. Daichi had maintained an austere civility, ever reliable to be the most responsible of them.

But the one that had set Kiyoko on edge had been Sugawara. The thrush hadn't said a word, just nodded when asked to back up Kageyama; his easygoing smile had been exchanged for a flatly focused look framing hard silver eyes. She'd been startled to realize that Suga was _pissed._ Daichi's leveler almost never even got annoyed, and there he'd been well past 'angry'.

Ukai had quickly taken his infant girl back home before returning, a dark look on his face as well and Kageyama had nodded to him in gratification. In the last five decades, the banded blond crow had become their de facto coach, always on the sidelines for every one of their matches, aerial or ground alike. It had been a morale boost to know that they'd had his backing this time around, too. Word had gotten out to the rest of the teams staying in Sheru Bay apparently, as well, because by the time the match had been set to start, they'd had a crowd.

The first set had gone… poorly. Wakatoshi hadn't lied; they were indeed very strong. When they were playing for best two out of three, losing their first set had been hard to swallow.

The large eagle was left-dominant and it had thrown them _all_ off, most notably Noya. And he'd been scary strong; their blocks might've slowed his hits down, but they hadn't stopped a single one that first match. The tall redheaded center seemed almost whimsically off kilter, eerily disturbed or maybe even split personality-esque with his conversational remarks intermingled with idly cheerful yet dark singsong that put her feathers on end, but he was unnervingly good at predicting hits from their side. Their setter might not have been as skilled as Kageyama, but he was fluid with his team, knew them all inside and out almost to the point of blending perfectly as to be unnoticeable. Their outside hitters were good, their libero excellent; every player was well rounded and exceptional, even Utsui had been a force to be reckoned with.

It had taken them several rallies to adjust to the new elements and find a way to contend with the eagles' strengths. By the time Noya had gotten a feel for that wicked left side hit and Tsukishima had pinned down timing on blocks, they had sported too great a deficit to return from and they'd lost the first set pretty soundly.

It had taken until the start of the second before Hinata and Kageyama found a workaround for the redheaded blocker who'd effectively neutralized them and their quicks with his unreal guessing ability. Tsukishima had locked in the timing and gotten the others to collaborate and help block Wakatoshi especially, the ibis' own clever precision for that aspect of volley shining through when he'd finally shut down the large eagle for the first time. They'd subbed Suga in at one point to set to Kageyama a couple times just to throw them off.

Kiyoko had had to give the eagle team credit: they'd forced Kageyama's to adjust, to make changes, to utilize all of their strengths to the best of their ability, and to implement every skill and strategy they had in their playbook.

She'd watched the second set on her toes, Yachi and little Natsu both beside her holding their breath as much as she with how close it was. But the Karasuno team had seemingly found its stride; they'd kept up and then taken the second set by the two-point margin, even if the final score was well beyond the twenty-five point mark. The crowd of competitors that watched had drifted toward the hosting team, their support boosting their energy and determination.

They'd powered into their third match regardless of how they'd been starting to drag. And it seemed that while Kageyama's side had successfully adjusted and worked to minimize their weaknesses and maximize their strengths, the eagle team hadn't been as prepared to adapt. The final score on the third set had had Karasuno up by three points to win the match. It had been close the whole time, but the crows had hit their rhythm and connected, never losing their slim lead to that fifteen point mark.

They'd all crowded around Hinata after that last point had smacked into the sand off his hand, their euphoria manifesting as one big screech fest around the small redhead—even the ibis had drifted inward when Yamaguchi had tugged him forward in his excitement. Shouyou had stared for several moments before a bright laugh had erupted from him.

"I knew I should have offed you when I had the chance." The remark had been low, almost inaudible in the enthusiastic cheers form their side, but the crow setter hadn't missed it.

"Say what?" He'd asked, his entire frame stiffening and he'd turned toward Utsui where he'd paused just on the other side of the net, the blue-eyed crow's face set with a _murderous_ glare. The eagle had shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'm always getting strikes for dinking around on my missions… apparently, I should have heeded that this time, because this one really came back to bite me in—"

The larger white winged avian hadn't had the chance to finish before a flash of grey wings had cut him off, Sugawara ducking under the net with lightning reflex, his fist connecting hard enough with the eagle's jaw to knock him off his feet. The eagle had stared up at him with surprise as the entire crow team had pressed toward them, Daichi quickly moving to catch him by the shoulders.

"You should probably know that most of us have taken lives and that we can do it with ease when someone we care about is under threat. And right now, you are threatening Kageyama and Hinata. Know that when you threaten _them_ , you also threaten their unit, the rookery, Sheru Bay, all of _us_ , and the long list of allies we've gained in the last few decades. You would do well to exercise caution when you are surrounded by so many of them. There are enough of us here to subdue you, and I for one, would be fine removing _your_ wings since you obviously have no idea what it's like being grounded. It sounds like it would be a good experience for you at the very least—we'll see if _you_ can't figure out the secret to restoring them." Suga's voice had been freaky calm, the threat almost sounding like something he did every day.

Every eagle had turned toward them with wings splayed aggressively, both teams staring at each other with homicidal intensity. It had been a hair raising few seconds before the black cat had pointedly cleared his throat.

"It would probably be in your best interest to leave Sheru Bay; if the Grand King were to learn anything about 'missions'…" Kuroo had trailed off with razor sharp hostility before shaking his head once, "Your _Utsui_ has a mouth that runs and if he's not careful, he might start a war."

The eagle had gotten back to his feet with dark insult at the cat's lackadaisical tone that positively screamed exactly how stupid the feline thought he was. The eagle's gaze had zeroed in on Kuroo, but Wakatoshi had caught his arm.

"We will be back next year." He'd said but Kuroo's chin had lifted.

"Brave of you. The choice to allow you remains in Hinata's hands… but Utsui will never be welcome, so you can leave him at home next time."

"I hope you come back; expect to lose _every_ time you face us. Volley isn't just for the strong. It's for whoever wants to play. But if you want a _real_ show of power, come back when you know how to play ground Volley. We'll _bury_ you." Hinata had said.

"I don't like his tone. This sounds like a challenge Wakatoshi. I think we should do it and come back and _break_ them." The redhead had said amiably. The large eagle had glared at them, obviously pissed, but he'd said nothing and the northern white winged avians had departed soon after.

Most of the beach crew's teams had been knocked out before the championship rounds even started. Kageyama's entire team had shelled themselves in the match against the eagles; their first against Iwa's unit the following morning had been their heaviest loss to the rookery since the games' inception simply because they were still exhausted from the previous night's efforts. Their ground team hadn't fared much better, only making it three rounds in before being defeated. To add to their woes, the cats' team had lost in the final prelim round to Bokuto's team of owls when Yaku had suffered a sprained ankle. That had left only two teams that made it into the finals on day two; Bokuto's… and surprisingly, Natsu's.

Backed by Kenma, Kuroo, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi and her leveler, her team had been rounded out with—of all people—Iwaizumi. She'd originally been set to play with Kageyama, Hinata, and Daichi, but with them dragging so badly after their matches, they'd subbed in several others with Tanaka and Tsukki being the only ones to stick it out. The collaboration of songbirds, crows, cats, and the rookery's reserve heir had set a benchmark, a working symbol of their slowly improving relationship—even if the ibis and black cat _had_ harassed the Grand King's second to no end the entire time.

Even so, it had been the first year where no beach crew team was playing for a championship match, the first where they didn't even finish in the top three in either bracket. The closest had been Natsu's which had ended up fifth. Small arms clasp around her neck from behind and she smiles just a bit at how Hitoka's unexpected touch doesn't make her flinch anymore. Instead, she leans into it as the bunting presses her blond head to Kiyoko's, her eyes drifting across the last words she'd written.

"Did you finish it?" Yachi asks softly, and Kiyoko can feel the happy, bubbly smile that presses into the side of her neck.

"I think so… but it might need another chapter after the last few days." She says before placing the last sheet on top of the others, the final lines still flashing at her sharply with not quite dry ink:

— _Grand King smiles, a real one, deep and content. "Iwa...that is my son's hand. Tobio wrote that message."_

"He's going to be disappointed at having to wait some more. He'll probably whine and then Iwa will put him in his place."

"He's the one that commissioned it; he never said how fast he wanted it done." She murmurs with a purse of her lips that betrays her amusement.

"Did you write about us?" The bunting asks, and Kiyoko's head cants.

"We're both in there… you even have your own chapter." She says, her gaze sliding to the side.

Yachi's read all of it, knows the depth and scope of everything in the stack of papers that has turned into a mountain on the corner of the desk the guys had given her when she'd taken the project on. It's been in the making for almost five years now, the task originally asked of Yachi because of her pristine writing. The Grand King had asked for the story… not just Hinata's grounding and his son's subsequent flight from the rookery, but all of it.

"I think Kiyoko should do it." Hitoka had said much to the pretty female crow's embarrassment. "My writing is boring compared to her beautiful spidering script. And she tells stories so much better than I ever could."

Somehow, the bunting hadn't let her talk her way out of it and over the next few years, it had become a priority. Kiyoko has loved talking with everyone to make sure the details were all correct, loved spinning the scenes to life, loved framing the emotions that had come with all the things that had happened, loved the sense of accomplishment she got when she closed a chapter with only a few discarded pages where her hand had slipped and she'd made a mistake. Perhaps when she's finished with this, maybe she will write down some of the old leveler stories Hinata and the others sometimes talk about. Hitoka's soft giggle hits her ear at nearly the same time as the brush of her lips.

"I suppose the last one should be Feathers'. End where we started—"

"The last one should be yours. You're the only one left." She says softly. Kiyoko huffs slightly before turning and meeting the bunting for a soft kiss. Yachi grins as she pulls away, her face pink.

"I put together a light lunch, you should come join us." She says with a sweet smile.

Kiyoko blinks, not having realized what time it was already. She stretches before rising and following the small blond outside where the others are all mowing down on yakitori skewers, and she utters a prayer of thanks to the universe for the other girl as her stomach rumbles.

She reaches for a plate and places a couple on it before neatly sidestepping Bokuto as he staggers when he's collared by Kuroo for grabbing the last three on the tray. The streaked owl scrambles to keep from dumping his plate, his wings snapping out for balance as he follows the pull of his shirt.

"Oi. There's a word for people like you, you know." The cat growls.

"What, brave or stupid?" The ibis asks flatly and Kuroo sends him a minorly annoyed glance.

"I was going to say _rude_ , but bravely stupid works, too, I guess." He murmurs before fixing back on the wide golden-eyed look from the larger owl. "What if Shimizu actually wanted another? I don't feel like watching her starve on account of your stomach." Her mouth quirks.

"Kuroo, it's fine." She says easily, but Bokuto is already blinking in surprise.

He glances down at his plate and then at hers as if he's never seen either before. The streaked owl looks back to his own—and then he carefully selects one of the skewers off his plate and deposits it on hers. A collection of chuckles rise around them, Tanaka's and Noya's laughs echoing loudest, and she thinks she even hears Feathers huff in amusement. Unbidden, her mouth tips up into a full smile, her own lungs expelling a breath through her nose.

"Thank you, Bokuto." She says and the owl grins before seeking out his leveler who watches him with a nonplussed expression. She joins Yachi as the bunting settles beside Kenma, her gaze glancing around the circle much like the quiet golden cat's.

Suga sits quietly between Daichi's legs, his silver-eyed expression bright as he watches Yaku gripe at a smirking Lev. Seako has joined them today and easily starts up a conversation with Kuroo about whether he can spare someone to help at Ukai's shop over winter from her place beside Akaashi as she adeptly corrals her infant fledgling in her arms, the smaller owl gently teasing the baby girl. Natsu snatches one of the skewers off Tanaka's plate from over his shoulder while he cracks jokes with Noya, Asahi looking on with a fond smile. She notes that Yamaguchi and Tsukishima are sitting closer lately than they normally do, their legs brushing up against each other and the crow leaning in until their shoulders touch.

And of course, there are Feathers and Hinata, ever in contact and ever in sync. They've finished their meal in a rush like normal and Kageyama is tracing out volley lineups in the sand at their feet, Hinata more avidly attentive to the movements of his hand than whatever Kageyama is actually saying. The hickey from a few days ago has mostly worn off and Kiyoko is pretty sure Feathers never even noticed it no matter how many times the redhead had gotten distracted by it. Hell, she's pretty sure she heard the Grand King even make a wry remark that had obviously gone over his head. The small spiker laughs lightly when Kageyama pins him with one of his scowls and an annoyed 'are you even paying attention, idiot?' that is neatly undermined by the slight color in the tips of his ears.

But Hinata's easy smile fades just a bit as he looks away and catches sight of the small garter snake that lives under their porch, his eyes going distant. As he focuses on where it's sunning itself in the reeds at the edge of the sand, Kiyoko pauses. It's not a _distressed_ look really… but it isn't his blinding happy one either. It's almost a look of pensive reflection, and she's reminded, not for the first time, that they each have their skeletons. It might not be very often, but they are all a little broken in some way, all have their own hell they are each prone to reliving on occasion, the pretty crow no exception.

Kuroo had been the first to figure her out, her quiet nature and frequently downcast expression giving her away. It was after she'd slapped Noya that he'd finally cornered her on it, but he'd probably known for months at that point. He'd walked into the house where she'd been cleaning fruit to go with their evening meal and sat down across from her, his own gaze cast to the cracks in the table.

"Heck of a day." He'd murmured and her heart had kicked up three whole notches.

"It was; I'm sorry. I didn't think before I did it." She'd said automatically, because while roughhousing and the occasional spat didn't faze the cat, unwarranted violence and fighting was taboo under Kuroo's leadership. They'd only been with the beach group for a matter of months at the time, and she hadn't been sure what to expect for retribution.

"Why would you be sorry, Shimizu?" She'd blinked in surprise.

"I made a scene."

"They needed to know where you stand and that you won't be pressed on it. Besides, you provided the others entertainment at our winged libero's expense for his poor judgement."

Her eyes had widened on the pear in front of her, the seemingly supportive remark the opposite of what she'd been expecting and a complete blindside.

"They all _laughed_." She'd half whimpered and Kuroo had leaned forward.

"It wasn't at you, Shimizu. If anything, the laughter was a verbal high-five for putting him in his place. But… I have to wonder." She'd paused her knife on the pear, her anxiety spiking.

"About what?"

"Where are you and Yachi from?" And then the trepidation had twisted her gut, almost instantly making her sick. She had never intended for them to know anything beyond 'they weren't going back', and here the cat was asking a prying question. He hadn't shown so much as even the slightest interest since they'd joined, so why now?

"That's really none of your business." She'd said with a touch of frost, the most she could manage to hurl at him. She'd flicked her own gaze up to find a black brow had risen.

"You're right, it's not… but you are also wrong. Between you and me, it might be good to know who I will need to send to hell when they come looking for you."

She could see his point of view, but she'd cringed inside. She'd been unable to meet his gaze in any way, having to concentrate to keep her entire form from shaking. She'd felt like her entire world had been crumbling under his quiet probing, and she'd felt like she were back in the misery she'd fled with Hitoka over a year before.

But Kuroo was still expecting an answer. And she hadn't been able to lie.

"Brothels don't send people across the country to retrieve their property." She'd whispered, fully expecting him to scoff at her.

"They do if the individual is valuable enough." He'd said and the knife had slipped from her fingers, because he'd been completely serious, never doubting her words.

Which meant he'd pieced it together. She'd pulled her hands into her lap against her stomach, terror settling in her gut; the only thing she'd been able to think was what would he do with that knowledge?

"I was deemed unsuitable as a courtesan and placed in the main house. A common _jade_ doesn't have enough value to spend the money to track down." She'd said, the last even coming out with a touch of derision even as her knuckles lost color and her knees pressed together in front of her.

"Perhaps not, but what about the bunting?" He'd asked and Kiyoko had flinched, her gaze snapping to his for an instant, wondering how he seemed to know _everything_ before ducking back to her tightly clasped hands in her lap. Still…

"Yachi wasn't one of us." She'd tried, attempting to steer the cat away from the bubbly little blond. But Kuroo had zeroed in on that in an instant.

"So not a 'jade', but clearly valuable. She's the reason you ran, isn't she?" He'd asked and her stomach had plummeted on her.

Would Kuroo expect her to 'work' for her keep now? Would he force her into 'service' using Yachi as leverage? Would she and the bunting be able to escape? Had she traded one hell for another? A light sigh had broken her thoughts and she'd jerked again.

"Relax, Shimizu. You have nothing to fear from myself or the others." He'd said with clear disillusionment before shifting to get up from his place across from her. She'd pulled in a breath like a knife into her lungs, her gaze darting at him with panic.

But the look he'd worn hadn't been malicious or predatory or antagonistic. It _had_ been angry—furious even, but more than anything, a pained expression had tugged at his eyes and mouth. He'd seemed caught more in his own thoughts than focused on her, and she couldn't explain why that look of sorrowful ire had loosened her voice and words had just come tumbling out.

"Yachi is still innocent… or as innocent as she _can_ be; we were trained to please to any end. She always kept that sweet brightness though, and she was set aside early on. They'd sold her to a monster far worse than the walking hell that favored _me_. An up and coming young lord who had a reputation for breaking girls. There were stories that some of them even died at his hands. I couldn't let him destroy Yachi's smile." She'd said, her voice barely even audible and she'd caught Kuroo's ears flicking toward her carefully before she'd glanced away from him again.

"Wouldn't have happened to be a wolf, would it?" He'd asked and she'd jolted, her wide eyes locking onto him.

"How do you know that?" The black cat hadn't met her gaze, a hand going to his neck in discomfort.

"Be content, Shimizu; they weren't just stories. I ended up in his home at one point and one of his girls asked me for help. I refused because it would have blown my mission. The girl died two days later and I still wonder what would have happened if I hadn't ignored her plea." The cat had stood up across from her and she'd reached for him with panicky worry.

"Wait—" she'd squeaked, "Wait, you won't tell the others?"

"We all have things we won't voluntarily share, Shimizu, and your past is your own."

She'd nearly gone boneless, her body aching to just sprawl across the table in front of her as the tension had left her shoulders. The air had left her lungs, her eyes watering, and her shoulders slouching.

"Kuroo?" She'd asked, her eyes falling back to the table, that residual shame rising through her gut in the wake of her relief that the cat wasn't going to harm either she or Yachi, wasn't going to cast them out either. She'd self-consciously stared at her hands as the cat had paused to look back at her. "How did you know?"

"I haven't always been on the lighter side of grey… I've seen _a lot_ of the darker side of the world _._ I noticed it after you hit me I think, and after that, I couldn't _stop_ seeing it. The way you hang back in silence and won't usually meet anyone's gaze head on, the way the only person you will touch when you sleep—or at all really—is the only other female in the house, the way it could be blazing hot at the height of summer and you will _still_ be in full cover… you are always around Yachi, and she's a fluorescent personality, so anyone standing next to her is usually less 'obvious' so to speak—unless it's Hinata. The others might not have realized it yet, but they'll pick up on it eventually; if you want to keep them ignorant, you might have to project more confidence."

She'd swallowed hard, her gaze never leaving the ridges of the wood in the table. The cat had sighed once more.

"There's an irrational part of me that hopes the bastard who chased your own smile off _does_ come after you. I think we'd _all_ like the chance to take a crack at him, and I'd personally relish strangling him with his own intestines. You are beautiful Shimizu, and you are worth fighting for."

"That's kind of you to say, but—"

"We each relive our hell over and over in the lonely silence of our own heads, Shimizu. I'm sure you are no exception, and that makes you brave. You'll be stronger for everything you've been through, and you'll face the world again someday without fear or shame or doubt."

"I think it will be a long time before I will see the world like you do again, Kuroo." She'd said softly. The cat had shifted before squatting down beside her until he was eye level with her.

"Shimizu, look at me." She'd frowned.

"What for?"

"Because I want you to." Her mouth had pursed and she'd felt a spike of unease in her gut, but she'd slowly looked up at Kuroo's dual gaze.

"What for?" She'd repeated, her gaze darting away again.

"No, don't look away, Kiyoko. Keep watching me." He'd said with firm encouragement.

She'd bridled under the soft command, and it was probably one of the hardest things she'd ever done, forcing herself to look back up at him and do as he said; the cat _knew_ her background and it felt like she was _more_ than just naked in front of him. She'd felt completely bare, her battered soul shivering under his intense stare.

"What for?" She'd croaked again.

"Practice. Because you will be stronger." He'd said, his focus never wavering, and she'd had to stop herself every moment from averting her gaze.

"But people will know." She'd whispered.

"They'll know you've struggled, but they won't know the depth or breadth of it. That's okay. That's a part of who you are now and it's not a weakness or a fault or something to be ashamed of. No, keep your eyes on me, Shimizu.

"You've known despair. Take all your pain, sorrow, fear, your determination to continue, to protect Yachi, to _live_ … _hold_ my gaze—and force _me_ to look away."

Kiyoko's eyes had widened.

 _How was she supposed to do something like that? The cat was a natural born leader, she'd never seen someone force him to avert his gaze in submission._

She'd stared at him, utterly lost, her hands shaking in her lap, her heart breaking in her chest under the weight of the memories and emotional turmoil, her gut turning in fear, and she'd _stared at him_. She'd stared at the piercing golden eyes, frozen in place, her tongue sticking in her mouth, the air catching in her lungs, and her eyes watering.

A girl a century younger than her that she'd never met before being 'acquired'—who'd been by her side ever since. The nights spent in a room full of other girls, her silent sobs unheeded by all save a small blond who'd sat with her in the dark until they subsided, small hands pulling her awake in the mornings when she didn't think she could even move to get out of bed both from physical pain and the way her mind had been a buzz of static that didn't respond, petite fingers gently dabbing at a black eye and split lip as she silently stared at a wall, tears unable to even fall. The disgust with her own body until she'd nearly taken to harming it because perhaps if it was damaged enough, then no one else could possibly want it either. The only thing keeping her from more than that one line—the bunting's tears and her own blood on the smaller girl's hands as she'd bandaged the cut after stopping her with hysteria. The reason she'd resolved to continue.

Only Yachi knew the depth of her anguish, but she felt like that cat had been well on his way to matching her awareness with the way he watched her. This feline she'd known little more than six months, this person with a grey past, this clever, sneaky guy, this _man_ … she'd trembled as she'd felt the emotions all rise, her heart racing and chest squeezing painfully. And then the cat's quiet voice had entered her head, calm and reassuring.

 _You have nothing to fear. You are worth fighting for. You are brave._ All impossible notions… but she'd wanted to believe the words.

And for a moment, she had.

She'd swallowed a sob and _looked_ back at him, her weathered heart and soul clinging to the whisper of hope that there would be a day when she would once more feel at home in her own skin instead of wanting to crawl out of it, wouldn't shy from all contact aside from Yachi's, wouldn't start in the mornings at the phantom feel of rough hands on her body. She'd _watched_ those dual golden eyes, darker than Kenma's bright gilded orbs—more the color of amber, the murky overlarge pupil that no longer dilated under light in the cloudy one creating a curious imbalance in his overall expression.

And Kuroo had brought a hand to cover his mouth as it dropped before he'd looked away, his gaze finding the floor. The air had left Kiyoko's lungs, all her muscles quivering with tension, a tear slipping down her cheek, but in that moment, she'd felt the shadow of surprised elation, a moment of powerful pride at the edge of her awareness.

"Heh, just like that." The black cad had said with a small smile, his eyes lifting to hers for a moment before finding the floor again. "That was honestly terrifying. You are less than no one, Shimizu. Never forget that. If anyone ever makes you feel uncomfortable, raise your head just a bit and stare at them, just like you did to me. _No one_ will ever be able to hold out under your gaze." The corner of her mouth had turned up just a touch.

"I don't know if it would work on anyone else." He'd smirked at her.

"Then it's a good thing we have a plethora of people who'd all be happy to be oblivious guinea pigs." He'd said with a chuckle.

In the months that followed, Kuroo had carefully coaxed her along in standing straighter, holding eye contact, and projecting quiet control—all things she _could_ do, but usually more as an innate response to a situation rather than at will.

By the time Bokuto had speared himself, she almost didn't recognize her own voice and actions with how she fell into coordinating and directing everyone without even noticing it— at least until she'd realized how _awful_ the streaked owl had managed to injure himself. But it had still been a far cry from frequently having to fight to keep tears back when they'd first joined the beach group.

It had slowly started to almost feel normal to pull on that quietly commanding presence that masked where it stemmed from; she never fielded more questions she couldn't answer without a firm rebuff if required. And she'd quickly found that it was actually far easier to don that mask and hold someone's gaze when she didn't know the person; the hardest people were those she'd come to trust and love, because the mask—though comforting to hide behind—was still a lie.

It wasn't easy; she'd learned that few things about emotional recovery ever were. She'd still had private breakdowns where the bunting would sit with her through the hysteria, it had still taken her another year to really sleep soundly against any of the others, another several months after that to even consider seeking out the simplest of physical gratification—a mere chaste kiss—from Hitoka without her stomach twisting on her. When Yachi'd been visually accosted by that scummy traveler at Miss Haruka's stall, she'd had no issue rising on the offensive with calm authority and an irate glare. When the earthquake had hit, she'd had no trouble treating injuries and assisting with movement and activities, things that required _physical contact_ with someone other than Yachi.

And Kuroo had kept the promise he'd made to her so long ago: _You have nothing to fear._

From that point on, he'd never sent her or Yachi anywhere alone, and they'd always had at least a couple others around for backup. He'd even placed himself ahead of she and Yachi when Iwaizumi had first shown up at the beach house. He'd never betrayed her confidence and he always gave her special consideration if he could see she was struggling. He'd been accommodating if she ever had requests or concerns, questions or help until she hadn't needed to lean on him and Yachi for emotional support or reassurance.

She has come so far from that decision to flee with Yachi so long ago. Every other step forward had been accompanied by one back and every bit of progress had been an internal battle. Even now, she still has moments where she has to remind herself not to look away from someone's gaze, still has days where all she wants is to be left in utter solitude.

But she thinks that maybe now, though… maybe she'd be able to stomach the rest of the beach crew knowing the hell she'd endured before finding this quiet haven by the sea, might even be relieved after having held it all in and suffered largely in silence for so long. She trusts them all so much, believes in them all, _loves_ them all. She has faith that knowing about her struggles won't taint their view of her, won't change the relationship she shares with them.

And shedding the weight of that secret would be… freeing.

Like a bird spreading new wings again for the first time after having lost them, the support of the people she loves there to help her reach the sky again. Kiyoko's eyes drift away from Hinata and his leveler, her nearly black eyes rising upward.

The world is bright.

They no longer field the looming reach of the rookery as a threat. Kageyama is no longer barred from Sheru Bay; it had been impossible to keep his lineage a secret when the Grand King visited year after year. They haven't lost anyone or any pair along the way—though a few people did try their hardest at that. They've picked up a few more through their journey instead, and a number of allies as well. Everyone is in good health, everyone is content. And even the meeting with the eagles has finally placed a face and name with the events that kicked everything in to motion when Hinata'd been grounded, and they will know to exercise caution around them in the future.

She hasn't heard a whisper of the wolf who'd purchased Yachi like a common livestock animal half a century ago, hasn't seen a glimpse of the figure that still occasionally haunts her own dreams. She doesn't know if she could face either of them if she were to ever meet them again, but that's okay. The people she calls family _can_ and _will_ if given the chance, and with that promise, she is not afraid.

Like the vast expanse of blue above them, the possibilities seem endless, the future a burning challenge, a question to be answered. An infinite canvas to draw the passions, sorrows, joys, fears, and happiness across. A story to be written, and a picture to be painted of _life_.

The female crow smiles… because today she has no reason not to.

 _Tooru Oikawa closes the bound book with care, not quite sure how to feel._

 _The twinge in his gut whispers to the feeling of being very small in a large world, but it also hints to sorrow and joy. Like he's grateful just for the chance to draw breath, to wake in the morning, to have come this far, to have been able to connect with his son once more, to have had this chance to bridge the gap, to_ understand _…_

 _More than anything, he supposes, it's awe._

 _He doubts the words in the text in his hands even scratch the breadth and scope of everything that's happened, but when he'd requested the story, he'd never expected anything like this. The pretty female crow is a gifted story teller, her script perfectly elegant, but more than any of that, he's able to get a glimpse of what his son has seen and felt through her words. In a way, he'd felt closer to Tobio reading this book than he ever had in their real-life interactions._

 _His fingers run over the weathered leather covering, the soft gritty feeling he catches here and there ever a reminder of the beach where his son lives, the fish hook clasp a symbol of the town he now calls home. She's right, he decides; they are all indeed broken in some way._

 _The door opens and Iwaizumi walks in, pauses for several moments, and then his head turns to the south wall, finding his desk with a building frown._

" _Sir." He says and Tooru can already hear the annoyance, but he's still half-overwhelmed by that odd feeling in his chest._

" _Iwa, do you really think there's a leveler out there for each of us?" He asks absently and the sentry leader breaks off his impending sharp remark to look at him, his clear dark eyes focusing first on his face and then on the book in his hands._

 _Apparently, he doesn't look_ too _lost in thought, because when Iwaizumi speaks, it's still colored with heavy sarcasm._

" _Contemplating a spirit quest to find yours or something? Because I get the feeling you don't realize I'm_ not _doing this to be a stand-in so you can take a sabbatical." He mutters and the Grand King cocks a brow at him in mock affront._

" _Rude, Iwa. It was a rhetorical question." The crow across his desk scoffs._

" _Then why even ask if you didn't actually want an answer?" Tooru's brows pull down and his mouth twists in a falsely accusatory pout._

" _You've gotten far more bold since I made you reserve heir." He mutters petulantly and Iwaizumi's head cocks with condescension, and Tooru wonders if he's been spending too much time around the ibis that he's got it down_ that _well._

" _One of us has to be an adult. If it bothers you, you are welcome to recant the nomination. You've known Feathers' hiding place for decades so I don't know what's keeping you." Tooru scowls up at him._

" _I'm appalled that you would even_ suggest _I break my word, Iwa." He says reproachfully._

" _I'm amazed you haven't found some loophole by now." He retorts just as quick and the Grand King's jaw slips just a little before he shakes his head disapprovingly at the other crow to keep the smile from breaking through._

 _He's unusually cheeky today; perhaps the three days of constant rain that's prevented them from practicing aerial Volley is rubbing him wrong. Iwaizumi might enjoy ground Volley, but Tooru knows he prefers the aerial game; and practicing for the last three days in the ground complex must be making him crazy._

" _Whoever trained you should be caned because they're a_ terrible _influence. Besides, there's no one else." He says, the last slipping out before he realizes it, but Iwaizumi seems to have missed the note of seriousness that had crept into his voice without his permission._

" _That would be you and there's always someone else." He says, setting down the missive he's holding on Tooru's desk. The Grand King stares at him, his eyes softening just a little._

" _There's no one else like you."_

 _The amendment comes out quiet and level, Tooru knowing it lacks any of his bantering rib it would normally have. But Iwaizumi doesn't seem to notice as he thumbs through a stack of requests, and the rookery leader almost wants to take the straight edge guide and smack his hand; the other crow_ always _messes them up after the Grand King had put them all in order just so._

" _Because I'm definitely the person to lead this circus you've created. I can deal with the military just fine, but the private sector is lost on me. I have no grasp of decorum when it comes to navigating the social balancing act it takes to run this place in its entirety." He grumbles without looking up at him and Tooru smirks slightly. That is a skill often learned only with time and experience._

" _Nonetheless… the rookery is yours Iwa, in the event that something happens to me. There's no one else I'd ever trust it to." He says, abandoning all pretense. The crow still doesn't look up at him and the rookery leader almost wonders if even_ that _straightforward declaration failed to get his attention._

" _Not even a leveler?" He asks with a quiet huff and Tooru pulls up short._

 _Iwaizumi had been listening closely the whole time despite his own agitated mood. Still, it's bugging him that the reserve heir won't look at him._

" _I'm serious Iwa." He says bluntly and Iwaizumi frowns before glancing up at him, his hand still on the pile of requests._

" _So am I. I'd happily shed this responsibility given half the chance." He says flatly and Tooru sighs lightly._

" _I know. That's why you can't. And even if I did find a leveler someday, they couldn't be reserve because they'll kick off the same time I do." He says and Iwaizumi's eyes drop back to the pile of requests and he resumes flipping through them. Tooru is almost tempted to take them away from him, both to remove his object of distraction and to preserve their order._

" _Would you really want to know who's on the other end of your rope? And quit talking like you're old and dying; you haven't even hit three-thousand years. You have at least a couple millennia left to get me out of the mess you've saddled me with." He mutters with a frown and the rookery leader blinks._

Would he want to know his leveler?

 _Tooru hasn't ever considered the idea, and he's surprised that it… frightens him._

 _He'd loved Tobio's mother more than life itself, would have traded places with her had he been able to. He'd do the same for his son now if it were ever required… and he'd also do it for Iwaizumi. He treasures the other crow as much as he does Tobio, never wants to lose him. Those first few months after realizing Iwa had been lying had felt just like when he'd lost Tobio. And learning the reason for it from the black cat had felt like the moment he'd received Tobio's message for their first Volley match. They both mean everything to him. He can't view a world without either of them, and he can't imagine someone else in that picture._

 _A leveler… could change all of that._

 _Another person could strain those relationships, even break them if he wasn't careful—the bond with Tobio was only just starting to recover, and Iwaizumi… he can bear the thought of losing the other crow perhaps even less than his son. If never finding out who his leveler is means he gets to keep things as they are, then he will be content; no world with a leveler but without either Tobio or Iwaizumi would satisfy, and he will never seek to risk that._

"… _No." He says finally and Iwaizumi's hands pause for a moment before resuming their pointless search._

"' _No', you don't want to know, or 'No', you aren't letting me out of this?" He asks and finally, Tooru hears the hint of gravity in the question that's been missing so far, knows Iwaizumi is paying_ close _attention and is asking in earnest. Tooru smiles slightly._

" _Both." The crow scoffs and rolls his eyes._

" _You really are an awful person." He says before straightening up and leveling him with a flat look. "Why is my desk on the south wall, Sir?"_

 _Tooru's head tilts and he throws Iwaizumi a questioning look._

" _I needed_ something _to aim for after you took down the tapestry." He says, unable to keep the smirk away from the corner of his mouth as Iwa's eye twitches._

 _To be fair, it had actually been a_ lot _harder to get that nice ring of arrow points around his inkpot without touching it than he'd banked on. It was fine to put divots in the wood surface, but breaking the inkpot? There were important documents on that desk that would have been ruined if they'd been soaked with ink._

" _I took it down so you'd_ stop _throwing those stupid arrowheads. Hearing them hit the other side of the wall is most distracting while going over scouting reports with other sentry leaders." He growls and Tooru gives up and just grins._

" _See, that's the thing, I_ _won't_ _be hitting the wall now. Your desk is in front of it." He says as if it's the most logical solution to the problem._

" _Yes, that's the issue. It's not enough that you are childish enough that you throw them in the first place—honestly, you're a king, for feathers' sake—but_ why _do you insist on harassing_ me _in the process? Seriously, it's like babysitting and that's not what I signed up for." Tooru's head cants, that smile threatening to take over his face._

" _What exactly did you think being a ruler was if not babysitting, Iwa?" He says and Iwaizumi scoffs._

" _I don't know, maybe ruling?" He says sullenly. Tooru's smile eases just a bit and he leans back in his seat, still focused on the reserve heir with quiet fondness._

" _When a ruler must truly_ rule _, then a situation has often grown dire. Be happy for the quiet days like this where it all seems like nothing but a joke, Iwa. These are the days you will look back to when times are dark and precarious and you will wish you could be here again." He says quietly and the crow's dark eyes cut to him once more, clouding with annoyance._

" _You'd want to be_ here _again?" Iwa asks skeptically and Tooru's smile turns serene._

" _I wish_ here _would never end, Iwa." He says, the words soft and filled with wistful happiness. The former sentry leader levels him with a nonplussed look._

" _You're insane." He murmurs before turning and heading for his desk, grumbling just low enough that the rookery leader can't quite catch his words._

 _But he has that frown in place that he'd worn whenever he was legitimately curious about what the Grand King said or did or thought. He'd worn it when Tooru had been failing to keep up appearances after Tobio had left. He'd had it when the rookery leader had first opened up to him about that death match and Tobio's injury. The Grand King had seen it when he'd broached the idea of a winter med-camp for injured avians._

 _And Iwaizumi had looked just like he does now when they'd received Tobio's invite. He'd hesitantly asked—probably expecting no reply—what in all hell he'd written that he'd gotten Tobio to agree. The Grand King had looked back at his son's handwriting with a distant wistful look._

" _His mother's tree is dying." He'd said quietly, something he knew Iwaizumi was aware of._

 _The beautiful mature sugi cedar that had been planted in his wife's and infant daughter's honor had caught a blight the summer before he'd found Tobio again, nearly breaking his heart once more. Its branches had slowly continued to wither no matter what he'd tried, turning first brown and then grey, and they didn't replant remembrance trees; once they died, the spirit of the person they honored was said to have departed to reenter the life cycle and be reborn. It had made him feel even more alone with only Iwa to mitigate that awful isolation._

" _I told him I didn't need to know where he lived; I offered him free passage to come speak to his mother, no strings attached save the chance to see his face. Once his mother is gone, he will be all I have left of her, and I told him I didn't want to lose him as well. He denied me in his typical stubborn fashion just like his mother would have—though she'd have done it with a smile—and instead opted for a match that pits himself_ against _me as opposed to grieving_ with _me, even if it gave up their location. I quietly gave him two options, knowing which one he'd pick, and I didn't even have to tell him to choose one._

" _His mother's passing always got to him more than anything else just like me; he has always borne pain largely alone and never came to me even then, so it made sense that it'd be no different this time when he learned of her tree. He will visit her on his own terms, not mine—although Shrimpy has always been there so maybe he wasn't quite so alone as I always believed."_

 _Iwaizumi had stared at him wide-eyed before almost visibly sinking into deep thought. The Grand King hadn't been able to determine if the expression was for how open he'd been with his answer or the fact that he'd laid out the choice without Tobio even realizing he'd done it—something he did feel slightly guilty for, but he'd wanted to see his son. The brooding look Hajime wears now… Tooru wonders what he's thinking so hard about, and h_ _is sorrel eyes drop to the book still in his hands, his mind drifting._

 _So many things have changed in the last fifty years._

 _His people have grown comfortable in the new policies he's implemented with regard to the military and private sector. He doesn't use the race pits to enforce the sentry rules, was surprised to find that he didn't have to because they'd largely police themselves if organized under the right people. They do get restless on occasion… and with Shimizu's final chapter, he may have reason to fire them up now. He's never been fond of the eagles to the north, but to find that they were the ones that had brought the world to pieces not just for him, but for Tobio and his leveler—perhaps a strengthening of the rookery ranks is in order. And maybe a rotating contingent can be stationed in Sheru Bay indefinitely just for added deterrence._

 _Tobio may have reached some sense of peace since that awful day, but Tooru can't say the same; he's read Shimizu's story twice now, and both times, he's nearly thrown it in fury at the northern eagles, his fingers creasing the delicate parchment in a crushing grip. He can't decide if he wants to let it lie for use against them in the future should the need arise, or if he simply wants to start that war. It's times like now that he's grateful for Iwa's insight and counsel. His second has also read the female crow's work, was an integral voice of several chapters, and a steep advocate for the former. He'd spent enough time at the beach house speaking at length with Shimizu when she was writing his parts that he's all but an honorary member of their ranks—a bridge between the two groups._

 _It was through Iwa's efforts that the beach crew tentatively come and go as they please, the former first unit's families more than thankful to be able to see them whenever they like now. Ground Volley has taken the rookery by storm, and children flock anytime one of them shows up; really, it's become a novelty anytime one of the cats or owls visit and they are pretty much celebrities. The ground game had taken off so well that indoor complexes were soon repurposed for it any time it rained, and the talk in both military and civilian circles was always about the next upcoming tournament and how many rookery teams would go this time._

 _And the rookery leader now has a rocky relationship with his son. They rarely speak in earnest no matter how Tooru tries—Tobio is still often curt and dismissive, but they get along in each other's company as acquaintances and allies. Tobio had returned and spent a day among the dying branches of his mother's tree, his leveler keeping a silent vigil at its base until he'd finally come down again. He'd even grudgingly invited Tooru for dinner at Momma Yu's at Hinata's suggestion, something he'd declined but had been touched by all the same._

 _Tooru feels quiet contentment settle in his chest, a covert smile tugging at his mouth as he watches the sentry leader turned reserve heir pull up an embedded arrowhead and shift papers about in irritation. He hasn't felt this at peace since before Tobio's mother died; he mentally whispers a prayer to her memory, a silent hope that she can see where they've come, the potential and possibility that is the future as bright as their son's leveler._

 _Watching Iwaizumi with an equal fondness, he once more agrees with Shimizu Kiyoko: It's a good day to smile._

A/N: And there you are... how was it? Besides long, 15000 words = like 3 normal chapters for me lol. I purposely kept Kiyoko in the background the ENTIRE story just to give her this POV. And after I started Horizon, I always intended her to be the 'writer' for the leveler series. I also selected a 'noncritical' character from Shiratorizawa (Utsui) to be the one who grounded Hinata b/c I just had the hardest time forcing one of the mains into the role. OH, HEY, did you guys see? I even tried to write a short OIKAWA POV. The two quotes were both perfect for this chapter so they both made it in. My favorite parts were Bokuto snitching food and Iwa's desk XD

So... I apologize for the ridiculous delay in posting (srsly, like 10 days after I'd hoped). I could give you a bunch of reasons (still on 12 hr days and completely fried when I get home, possible/unconfirmed concussion and partial dislocation of shoulder/tricep pull/and deltoid strain b/c SNOWBOARDING, was asked to plan a 2 wk trip to Italy- ITALY- for may for 7 ppl and freaking out about deadlines, and traveling for valentines with the SO as well) but they all seem like weak excuses. i don't need my shoulder to type, flights to italy will still be there tomorrow, and I can write while traveling. Really, when I shove it all aside, my biggest issue was motivation. I REALLY struggled the last five chapters or so and I think it showed. I didn't even have 90% of the epilogue even on the page after the last chap and i had the most infuriating time focusing. It was so bad that I temporarily vacated the digital world (tumblr and AO3 are fantastic distractions) for a while and even had to switch all music over to soundtracks or music I couldn't understand b/c it was totally tripping my ADHD switch.

I hope the eiplogue makes up for the wait... I may or may not do a 'notes' installment like i did with pair, we'll see. If not, you all have been the best people to write for and I cannot thank you enough for the views, kudos, comments, and undying support. If I have another bout of inspiration for this fandom or any other, you can be sure I will be back to write for you. You are all the very best!  
Take care you guys and have a spectacular night! :)


	38. AUTHOR NOTES FOR LEVEL HORIZON

What follows herein is nothing more than my personal ramblings… basically a mess of thought vomit babble XD

SO… **Horizon Stats** (Again, a nod to Iron Rose for coming up with the name, you are wonderful):

 **Total Word Count: 179,617** (more than double the total for Pair)

Total Chapters: 37 (seven more than Pair)

Total Pages: 263 (nearly twice as many as Pair)

Longest Chapter: Kiyoko's Epilogue (16.5k words) by, like, 7000 words I think

Shortest Chapter: Year Thee 1-9 where Tanaka first meets Natsu at around 2000 words.

Chapters I struggled most with: Most of the last five and for sure the Epilogue, but those were probably more motivational issues than chapter difficulty. Lev's was hard to get right, and Bokuto's were rocky as well. Daichi's action chapter in the snake nest was a task, too, because of the pacing and research that went into it. Horizon in general was tougher to hash out than Pair because the story was a lot less fluid and bridging events was a challenge with the time lapses.

Chapters I enjoyed most: Any of Kei's (especially around kids) or Tobio's… and most any time Kuroo was being his awesome self. I liked Yachi's when Hina's wings finally emerged.

People with the most POVs: Iwa (4), and Kageyama, Suga, Tsukki, Tanaka, Kenma (all with 3 apiece)

 **Leveler Series Stats (Both Pair and Horizon):**

 **Total Word Count:** **262,232**

Total Chapters: 67

Total Pages: 406

People with the most POVs: Kageyama (21), Shouyou (11), Suga and Iwa (4 each), Tsukki, Kuroo, Tanaka, Kenma (3 each)

I originally only had 30 chaps more or less planned for Horizon and started posting once I'd blocked out about 25 chapters. That would have satisfied my 80% completion rule just fine (30 days should be enough to finish the last five right?). Except it ended up being another 7 chapters on top of that, the eipilogue long enough to have been three, so I wasn't nearly as far along in the completion as I intended. Every chapter of Horizon took me probably two to three solid days to put together, sometimes more; contrast that to Pair where I was turning out sometimes two in one day.

Again, I must give a nod to Craziiwolf for her wonderful art that ignited this series into being. If you haven't wandered over to tumblr and checked out her account, you definitely should: . Like seriously, you are missing out. She has so many fascinating AUs, and if you look for the khwinged tag, you can trace her art back to the earliest ones in this AU that touched this Leveler series off for me. She is extremely gifted and her style is breathtaking.

In what inspired me to write the second installment? People asked about things like Natsu, Oikawa, do they ever go home, and when does Hinata get his wings back, which in turn generated more plunnies that all attacked me with a vengeance and you can only beat them back with a stick for so long. I had the world and characters all established after Pair, so it wasn't TOO hard to kick them into line for another round once I had something of a plotline (this was the biggest struggle for me with Horizon at first).

The live counterparts that I used for reference with each of the following characters:

 **Crows** : Kageyama, Nishinoya, Azumane, Tanaka, Suwamura, Iwaizumi, Yamaguchi, Shimizu, Oikawa, Saeko, Ukai

 **Altamira Oriole** : Shoyou and Natsu

 **White Ibis** : Tsukishima

 **Grey Shrike Thrush** : Sugawara

 **Painted Bunting—female:** Yachi

 **Great Horned Owl:** Bokuto

rare **Black Barn Owl** : Akaashi

 **Green-eyed Russian Blue** : Lev

 **Gold-eyed Bombay** : Kuroo

 **Red Somali Cat** : Yaku

 **Mottled Bengal** : Kenma:

The scope of Horizon was considerably bigger than Pair and it had me constantly doubling back to make sure I was keeping details straight… I have no idea how all of you guys managed. The revolving door of POVs was also a challenge—it totally ended up being a study in character analysis with each of the different people. I even ran into issues on occasion of being stuck in the wrong 'voice' sometimes when I'd switch between chapters. If you count the brief Oikawa POV at the very end, I got all of the beach group except Natsu and the key players in the rookery (Iwa and Oikawa) and Sheru Bay (Ukai). Really the only other person I felt like I missed who had a significant part might have been Saeko.

I really tried to focus on the journey these characters underwent and the changes in their mindsets rather than the development of relationships, but still tried to pay attention to platonic ties in particular. As such, certain characters lent themselves to situations better and others were sometimes more ideal when I was searching for a particular emotion, so it was sometimes a task to decide who got to own the particular POV I was working on. I also rarely had POVs where _everyone_ was there, because keeping track of them all and including them all in a meaningful way is difficult for me. It is far easier to deal with two to six people all wanting a part of the action as opposed to fifteen XD

Someone pointed out for me the one person I completely forgot about when tying up loose ends in the epilogue. I honest to god meant to get at least a footnote in about Akiteru. I'd even gone over the epilogue two or three times trying to make sure I'd gotten everything, and it still somehow slipped thru the cracks.

Synoptic background on Akiteru, Tsukki, & Yams: Yamaguchi had a hard time being surrounded by reminders of the family he'd lost, so Tsukki took him and just up and left on a whim for a change of pace. And just never informed Akiteru of his plans really… he's a terrible brother. I imagine Tsukki would regret that after the fact when he realizes that Akiteru never left that place in the event he and Yams ever came back, and since he doesn't really deal well with anger and piercing negative emotions like guilt, I think his not returning home would be a bid to avoid facing his own poor choices rather than for anything Akiteru had done. For the record, I imagine that Yamaguchi would have sent him a tournament invite at some point and Akiteru would come watch them play at every tournament from that point on.

KUROO. My black cat quickly became one of my favorite characters of the series way back before we had more than just the brief glimpse of him at the end of Pair. If there is one character that I made all but invulnerable and a pivotal figure to the Leveler series, it would be Kuroo. He got all the best parts, all the biggest responsibilities, and all the flashiest power plays. He rarely appeared out of his element, and he often had the largest contributing impact in a bind with his knowledge base and instincts. I gave him so much of the powerful leadership role that Daichi, who I feel really should have had more influence with that regard, got all but pushed out of it.

I feel like Horizon really failed several of the other Karasuno guys though, too, and not just Daichi. Asahi ended up almost a background character, and Noya ended up seeming a lot more oblivious and vague to me than I think he actually is. In the anime, the little libero feels more aggressive and decisive with an impulsively hardline drive to reach whatever his goal is, unapologetic and frank in his demeanor even if sympathetic toward his teammates' struggles. Yamaguchi got relegated to the edges of the story a lot too, kept on the sidelines and viewed mostly through Tsukki's eyes. I don't think we got much chance to _really_ see the quiet strength that he harbors. While I didn't struggle to write Suga so much, his POVs ended up being a lot of observation and analysis of a situation rather than actual character building I think. And no matter how much I like him, I feel like I also made Tanaka a bit more mature and less combative than he is… and with a disturbing absence of shirt removal, in retrospect.

As always, I felt like I missed on Oikawa throughout the series, but I also struggled with Bokuto, and to an extent, Noya, and then there was Lev – oh, my god, LEV, that bipolar chapter had me wanting to bang my head on a wall. I love the tall goofy feline, he and Yaku are hilarious, but I couldn't get him to sync right and I had to conclude that I had as poor a grasp on the grey cat as I do on the Grand King. I could write Lev just fine when he wasn't in the driver seat, but the moment I handed him the keys, it was straight to the docks, rent a rowboat, forget the oars, and set myself adrift in the middle of the ocean, because I was fucking _lost_ trying to write him. I mean, it was also a scene with Oikawa, so we might as well have shackled me to a cannon ball and tossed me out of the boat while we were out there for the way it ended up a one-two punch of 'characters I suck at writing'. I mean, scenes with Oikawa were no better and the equivalent of getting into a bullpen and attempting to wrestle with a rabid alien Tooru, but hey, I'd kind of come to terms with that by the time I'd hit Lev's chapter.

I had praise for Tsukki's and Kuroo's chapters, but they were also some of the smoothest ones I did. I always enjoyed the snark and banter of these two almost as much as I enjoyed the soft moments between KageHina. Kageyama's chapters always wrote easy, too, because I think I share a lot in common with him mentally. Hinata's chapters always ended up overloaded with some of the most colorful/desperate emotions because he's this colorful person, but I hate when he's portrayed as an airhead. I don't think he's as emptyheaded as a lot of people seem to think; despite his poor grades (a result of not finding class as important as volleyball more than lack of intelligence), and I think he's remarkably perceptive given how he can make friends with _anyone_. It takes a scary degree of attentiveness to be able to navigate social networking like that, and I think that often just gets translated into bubbly idiocy rather than the sharp intellect it requires.

It irked me a little, but I think I wrote Natsu way young; she was supposed to be eleven or twelve in human years, but she came off around nine or ten to me. I feel like her situation having been a captive, never learning to read/write crow or really speak it for centuries helps ease that discrepancy, but if I had a better grasp on kids, I think she'd have come out a little different. I also wasn't able to just bring her in and say 'aw, look, the siblings are reunited, they will just remember each other and everything will be all happy now' either.

When they were separated, she was a toddler and Shouyou was like seven-ish in human yaers, both very young; she spent that entire time with snakes, he grew up a sentry. Their experiences when they meet again at this point are so vastly different, they'd be staring at each other across the vast chasm of their separate pasts, each set on a completely different path by the lives they've lived in each other's absence. I couldn't easily just force them back into a smooth sibling relationship and have it feel normal, so I had her leaning on Tanaka all the more.

I have to say THANK YOU to all you wonderful people for not crucifying me for making Tanaka & Natsu levelers. They are one of my oblique ships, but I have _zero_ inclination toward romantic adult/child relationships. The headcanon inside my head is and always has been of Natsu having returned home on a visit from college, and she stops into his family café that he now runs for dinner one day, and he totally drops for her. You can read Horizon however you like, but if anything more develops between them, it would have to be on Natsu's terms when she is older—I did my damnedest to make sure to always keep their interactions strictly platonic even if amusing.

I also _adore_ Saeko and Ukai, but this one is for far less pure reasons: p/92mY9F. If I'm honest, I find Ukai to be one of the most attractive characters in HQ, but then, I also like characters who buck the system a bit, and I was on that Saeko/Ukai ship before I realized it had left port. I have a brother who isn't that unlike Ukai with something of a slight tendency toward delinquency, and seeing him holding his hours-old son where him being a parent had seemed like one of the great follies of the universe at one point was surreal (for the record, I think he's actually one of the best dads, _everything_ he does now is for his kid).

So, big confession—I ship KuroTsukki more than TsukkiYama so I had something of a hard time forcing them into their other common ships. I love the clash of personalities between those two and I could have gone back and forth all day with the ribbing and the witty insults between them. Really, I would be going along on a chapter and one of them would do something I hadn't intended them to do because it was Kuroo & Tsukki in the scene and it just fell onto the page, and I would have to rebuke them and be like 'No, go back and play with your _other_ ships'. Their interactions never had to be forced or planned like I'd have to do with KuroKen or TsukkiYama sometimes. This was one of the big reasons I had little to no remorse not making TsukkiYama levelers.

I'm also kinda really against the idea of 'preordained soulmates' and 'fate' in general, too. Fate is a fickle bitch—chaotic, cold, unforgiving, and uncaring to the pain she deals to her pawns. I would hate to be at her mercy with no chance to guide my own future, and I kinda used TsukkiYama to give that idea a figurative 'fuck you'. To me, their relationship would be one of the 'most profound/honest' ones of the series because it doesn't bridge off a leveler bond and it exists in spite of it. I.E. Tsukki's personality in a nutshell: fuck the world.

I did feel like the leveler theme was overdone with the number of them that popped up like dandelions in a suburban yard. Don't get me wrong, I love how it came out and everything, but we went from levelers being myth at the beginning of Pair to 'levelers… levelers everywhere' in Horizon. It was quite unrealistic to me that they _all_ ended up with a leveler after knowing basically _no one_ else who had before that point. But Nyx is a pushover and ya'll love your ships, so here we are lol

I have to apologize… the girls kind of got sidelined for a _lot_ of the story and only ended up with one chapter each. I _did_ have like fifteen other _guys_ to choose from all the time, but I kind of kept them in the background because I had a harder time getting into the girls' heads than the others (seriously, girls are the most complex creatures on the planet, I swear). I knew that might be a problem, so I structured it so Shimizu would have the pivotal role of being the author, and I gave them a backstory that would make it easier to justify them always staying at home when the group split on their little field trips. I _did_ feel like that backstory massively forced Shimizu out of character in particular, but that was how it played out. I like to think that the epilogue was long enough to make up for keeping them out of the spotlight so much XD

I also kind of felt like the epilogue itself was subpar. I didn't actually hash out either Volley game between the beach group and the rookery, and the beach group and the eagles, because I was lazy and didn't want to hunt thru game tapes to come up with play sequences. And I also couldn't bring myself to force anyone but an offbeat no-name player from Shiratorizawa into the role of attacker. I feel like snake mind control like Craziiwolf had mentioned would have stretched the limits of my leveler AU, and even if I find Shiratorizawa to be arrogant and kind of dick-ish, I still don't think any of the players are evil so I couldn't make them do something like that simply out of spite.

I _did_ feel like there really should have been a pair somewhere along the way that ended up biting it just to drive the point home that they _are_ mortally linked, and it's not just a plot device that never gets exercised/put into action. I _very nearly_ almost killed DaiSuga… the stories you remember the most are the ones that hit you the hardest emotionally. When everyone stays safe and that happy end is virtually assured, a story loses its potency as far as memorability, because happiness is often an emotion that fades far faster than sadness/sorrow.

When you think about it, which memories stand out more to you from childhood? The one where you were totally ecstatic to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels the first time, or the one where your stomach curled in dread after you broke Mom's favorite vase? The birthday sleepover with all your friends, or the gut-wrenching fear and guilt of that first big fight with them where you felt like the world was falling to pieces around you?

Humans often remember negative things far more clearly and keenly than they do the happy ones simply because pain (both emotional and physical) is a _fantastically_ effective teacher even if we never realized those were learning experiences at the time. We learned not to play ball in the house and break Mom's vase because we got spanked. We learned not to tease our friends past their tolerance because we were ostracized and lonely for a week. A story won't necessarily give you a learning experience, but it _can_ evoke the same emotions that highlight our own memories, both good—and bad.

I think this is why stories like 'Game of Thrones' and the 'Hunger Games' are so well known. They are filled with horror and tragedy, they don't shy from making their readers feel the full brunt of sadness or pain. The characters you love the most create the biggest impact when they are lost; that's why writers always kill off the most 'pure' or 'likeable' character. By making you feel that pain, they also ensure that you _remember_ that story much more keenly than say the 'Twilight' series where no one dies except their enemies (I think? Don't quote me on this, I didn't finish the series… Nyx found a depressing love triangle thing centered on a rather bland MC to be… even more depressing. And Nyx lives in Seattle and it doesn't rain like that in the summer).

Speaking of learning experiences, though…

Level Pair and Level Horizon were a big one for me. I tackled several things I had little confidence in and I think I know how to approach them better in the future because of it. I worked through a _large_ variety of POVs (nineteen different people total, yikes) when I've only ever had 2 or three in anything else I've written. I took on a full-scale combat scene (Daichi's chapter in the snake nest), I tried a natural disaster (Kenma's, Noya's, and Ukai's chapters with the earthquake/tsunami), I attempted several injuries that required far more research than I had anticipated, and I attempted a time lapse plot movement. Oh, and I also tried a brief POV from the bane of my existence this whole story, Oikawa at the end there (so really, 20 POVs).

And most of all, I brought it up for an audience to review. Thank you all for your critiques and comments; your remarks always kept me smiling and even shaped the story on occasion (yay Kuroo/Oikawa encounter!). And another first for me… I've gotten a variety of death threats and even a stalking one (so bonus, I guess?). Apparently, this is a rite of passage for authors, so I suppose I can check that off the list. Seriously. You guys crack me up lol

I had someone ask on tumblr about my writing process for a large work like this. When I write, I will rough out my chapters—kind of block out what needs to happen, maybe scratch out a key dialogue exchange going thru my head so I don't lose it, sketch the scene into infancy. The second time across it, I'm fleshing it out in full, and the third time I will format (since everything starts out in block text for me), and add in the final notes/details/editing down excess to keep the story more fluid. The last read thru is basically a QC check to make sure everything flows well and makes sense and if I need to pull more out—or if something is just straight up stupid.

When it comes to writing blocks, I force out one line to bridge the scene I'm on to the next part, clumsy and awful as it might be, and highlight it. I will leave it and come back, rework it at a later point, but the critical thing is that I'm not inhibiting the flow of words in my head. The longer it stays stopped for me, the more likely I am to either lose the motivation, or lose the best way the upcoming scene should play out.

When it comes to a scene where I know point A and point B, but don't quite know how to get from A to B, I will sleep on it a night, talk it out in the car or shower by myself (yeesh, its embarrassing to admit this; I am going to feel completely awkward if I'm the only idiot who talks to themselves in traffic on the way to work), and reread the chapter ahead of it to get the feel for how it should progress. It doesn't always work and sometimes I end up forcing the progression between A and B a little… good examples would be Asahi's chapter in Pair, both of Bokuto's chapters, Kenma's after Yaku shows up, Noya's during the earthquake, Lev's chapter, and Shimizu's epilogue. They don't feel nearly as smooth as others to me, like they're stiff and stilted (or maybe schizophrenic, I'm not sure), and the characters tend to fall OC I think.

When I'm really in gear for writing, I can have any music on in the background and be fine, but if I'm struggling to focus, it can't have words in it that I understand or it turns into a distraction, and I will sometimes turn it off altogether. I'm weird and _can't_ have a TV going or I get exactly _nothing_ done. But when I'm in the right frame of mind, I can write to the exclusion of all else. I will wake up early and then almost be late for work, I will forgo meals, I will not leave the house, I won't even get dressed out of my pjs if it's a weekend. My SO is the best and has been the most tolerant person when it comes to my writing and he will pointedly leave me be for hours on end when I'm in one of my shut-in moods… but he has commented that it will be nice to have me back for a while after all this XD

I've been writing for over ten years. It started out as just teenage angst (holy balls, cringey, you have _no idea_ ) that evolved into 'I want to tell a real story'. I kid you not, by the time I graduated HS, I was writing on anything and everything... there may be some random little plot ideas still in one of the english books that my school has probably long since replaced (Sorry Miss Vintz). My mom regularly chastised me for writing on my hands when I didn't have a notebook, and by the time I hit college, I was writing through half my classes (*ahem* do at your own risk because you _are_ entirely liable to be asked what you're doing, and explaining is not only impossible, but embarrassing- especially in a math class)

I have so many plot bunnies, I can't find the damn sun anymore. If I'm honest, a lot of these start out as freaky vivid dreams… but the curious thing about dreams for me—they often disintegrate from my mind within a few hours after waking, sometimes minutes. Anytime I get a new one, I will scratch out a synopsis in my 'plunnie' file to revisit and maybe use/expand on later, and I won't necessarily remember them until I revisit the notes I'd jotted down. None of these are usually ever really enough to spin an entire story out of, but they are an excellent source to pull on for ideas (the race pits were actually a modification of one of these, and so was the lore around remembrance trees).

I struggle with blocks and uncooperative characters _constantly_. I get bouts of motivational lag (like at the end of Horizon, really guys, my apologies). Details regularly fall through the cracks. I have three unpublished novels and a host of others that are partially complete—of which I get details mixed between them all the time. One of those series is my next project to try and finish and perhaps take to a publisher.

I'll probably never quit writing. Anyone can make it to where I am, but it takes a lot of dedication and will. A lot of people have a hard time with that unless they are like me and used it as an outlet (this isn't a bid for pity, but for those who are curious, writing was my escape from a sucky HS experience), but if you want to be a writer, by all means. Dream big, work hard, and don't ever _stop_ writing.

Thank you all for sticking with me through this roller coaster of a fanfiction and for your patience with my irregularities in my posting schedule. I am not a very confident person in general, so I know how intimidating it can be to leave reviews or comments (I rarely leave reviews on anything I read—I'm awful, I know). I'm a mouse in real life and I shit you not, I debated for like a week before knocking back a shot of whiskey and hitting the 'post' button on Level Pair with the intent to sit back and watch the fireworks—or the bonfire, whichever way that went. I have to say there were far more fireworks than bonfires ;)

Thank you all for welcoming me to this wonderfully open and forgiving writing community. I've received glowing reviews and constructive criticism and kind words of support and encouragement; not once did I ever feel attacked or belittled or really even that uncomfortable. I couldn't have asked for a better audience, and I have sincerely loved reading your reviews and enjoyed getting to know my readers a bit more. I can guarantee you all that if I have any more for this AU or fandom, or any other, I will bring my work back to offer up for your thoughts any day.

As of right now, I don't really have anything further planned for this series—I pretty much burned through all the plunnies I had for it with a bucket of gasoline and a blow torch. I've toyed with the idea of semi-willingly exploring some of the origins of the characters in Horizon (Kuroo/Kenma/the fox, Tsukki and Yams, Lev, Yaku, and perhaps chibi Karasuno Unit members), but I have no plot or real substance to back any of it and little motivation to really come up with it, so I will probably shelve it for the time being. If anyone ever wants to talk or say hi or, I don't know, rant, about anything, I have accounts on AO3, Tumblr, Wattpad, and FFnet all under Nyxysabyss… feel free to ping me at any point, I guarantee you I read _everything_ that is sent to me and I will try to respond.

As always, have a perfectly fantastic evening, guys. Nyx signing off ;)


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